Shriners spread holiday cheer at area health care facilities
PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — Good cheer and the spirit of the holiday season were recently delivered to patients and residents of several central Aroostook area health care facilities by members of the Aroostook County Shrine Club who were joined by a special visitor from the North Pole.
In what has become a holiday tradition, the local Anah Temple Shriners teamed up with Santa Claus to visit several medical facilities in the county — stretching from Houlton to the St. John Valley — including TAMC’s A.R. Gould Memorial Hospital in Presque Isle and the Aroostook Health Center, a rehabilitation, skilled nursing and long-term care facility in Mars Hill.
While at the hospital, the special guests had the opportunity to visit with numerous patients on the acute rehab, critical care services, medical/surgical and women and children’s units. During their final stop on the women and children’s floor, Santa and his team of “klown” elves visited with two newborns and their families, one of the babies was barely a day old, the other just two hours old.
