Published on: 4/22/2004

Pictured Mario Felix Parra (patient) with Bugs Bunny.

MIAMI, FL. Bugs Bunny and Tweety Bird, two of the most popular Looney Toon characters, surprised the patients at Miami Children's Hospital (MCH) with a visit earlier this month. “The children and their families loved Bugs Bunny and Tweety Bird. Everyone was very excited when the two visited them in their rooms and throughout the hospital”, stated Sherisse Wormell, Child Life manager.
    
The Child Life Department at Miami Children’s Hospital is specially trained to meet children’s emotional needs, and contribute a feeling of safety and comfort to our patients. The goal of the Child Life Department is to provide a non-threatening environment, which allows for expression through positive outlets and normalcy in an unfamiliar setting. The Child Life helps both children and their families gain a better understanding of medical procedures, so stress and fear of the unknown can be reduced.


Tweety Bird with and Javier Mateo Beltran (patient).

About Nicklaus Children's Hospital, Where Your Child Matters Most ™ (2025)

For 75 years, Nicklaus Children's has stood as a beacon of hope for children and families across the state of Florida and beyond. Nicklaus Children's Hospital is South Florida's #1 nonprofit, freestanding specialty licensed hospital exclusively for children serving close to 70 percent of children in the Miami metropolitan community. In addition, Nicklaus Children's offers care within NCH North Hospital in Naples, Jupiter Medical Center's De George Pediatric Unit and select Baptist Health Hospital pediatric emergency units. The hospital and its network of more of nearly 35 outpatient care locations offer lifesaving care in in Miami-Dade, Broward, Martin, and Palm Beach counties. These outpatient locations include an array of urgent care, pediatric primary care, and subspecialty care centers and are either hospital-based or outpatient locations under Nicklaus Children's Pediatric Specialists, LLC (NCPS). Providing a pipeline of future physicians and groundbreaking research, Nicklaus Children's is an academic and clinical affiliate of Florida International University Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine. Nicklaus Children's is home to centers of excellence including the Helen & Jacob Shaham Cancer & Blood Disorders Institute, the Nicklaus Children's Orthopedic, Sports Medicine and Spine Institute, Nicklaus Children's Neuroscience Institute and Nicklaus Children's Heart Institute. The 325-bed hospital is renowned for excellence in all aspects of pediatric medicine, with many programs routinely ranked among the nation's best by U.S. News & World Report since 2008. Nicklaus Children's also includes a nonprofit physician practice subsidiary with over 40 specialties, and an ambulatory surgery center.