FRIDAY FUNNY: An Uplifting Superhero Story

The details are slowly unfolding in Aurora, CO, where 24-year-old James Holmes horrified the audience—and the world—during a midnight showing of the most recent Batman movie “The Dark Knight Rises.” So far, 12 fatalities of the shooting have been confirmed, with many others being treated for injuries in area hospitals.

But in one hospital in London, UK, every effort has been made to tap into the restorative and positive powers so often associated with superheros. The Evelina Children’s Hospital was built in 2005 with a specific purpose in mind: to be a hospital that didn’t feel like a hospital. As the first children’s hospital built in London in more than 100 years, “Evelina Children’s Hospital provides a bright and spacious environment that is designed to be engaging, fun, and exciting for children—who, more than any other patient, might feel fearful about their stay—while also delivering a functional, fully operational hospital.”

And that’s where the superheroes come in. The article, “Touchpoints Matter,” (posted on February 28, 2012, in the Brains On Fire Blog) explains:

Perhaps the most remarkable touch point of all comes from an unexpected source: the hospital window washers. As part of their contract, Evelina requires that hospital window washers dress up as superheroes while cleaning the hospital windows. Bedridden, sick children delight in seeing Superman, Spiderman, and Batman dangling just beyond the glass. The window washers report the superhero visits to Evelina are the highlight of their week.

If you were a child in a hospital, how would you react to seeing this outside your window?