{"id":134422,"date":"2024-08-30T14:42:12","date_gmt":"2024-08-30T18:42:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=134422"},"modified":"2024-08-30T14:42:12","modified_gmt":"2024-08-30T18:42:12","slug":"humble-heroes-visit-st-lukes-childrens-hospital","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=134422","title":{"rendered":"Humble Heroes Visit St. Luke\u2019s Children\u2019s Hospital"},"content":{"rendered":"

Anthony Murphy, 15, enjoyed a visit form the Humble Heroes at St. Luke’s Children’s Hospital on Friday morning. (Photo provided by St. Luke\u2019s University Health Network<\/span><\/strong><\/a>)
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

Heroes\u2019 Prior Visit Spurs St. Luke\u2019s Photographer to Join and Help Start Pennsylvania Chapter<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Children hospitalized in late August and early September often miss out on back-to-school events and Labor Day parades and picnics. Fortunately, patients at St. Luke\u2019s Children\u2019s Hospital in Bethlehem participated in something even better: a visit from their favorite superheroes.<\/p>\n

Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Captain America, Spiderman, Black Panther, Supergirl, Green Lantern, Deadpool, Black Panther and Scarlet Witch were there, bringing smiles to the children and their families. They were joined by cartoon TV hero, Raven, a character from\u00a0Teen Titans,\u00a0<\/em>portrayed by St. Luke\u2019s photographer Anita Sergent.<\/p>\n

The heroes are volunteer members of Humble Heroes of FDNY, a nonprofit group of firefighters, police officers, teachers and others. The Fire\u00a0Department of New York City\u00a0is its official sponsor. Disguised as famous heroes, they visit local hospitals and grief centers, \u201cbringing joy to kids fighting life\u2019s injustices.\u201d\u00a0Their mantra is, \u201cAnyone can be someone\u2019s hero.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Anita<\/a>
Anita Sergent, aka Raven, who is also a St Luke’s photographer and Humble Hero has a chat with Anthony Murphy, 15 at St. Luke’s Children’s Hospital on Friday morning.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Anthony Murphy, 15, of Norton Township, NJ, said he was thrilled to have a visit from some of his favorites, including Deadpool, having seen his most recent movie twice. The North Warren Regional High School sophomore is such a fan that superheroes are the theme of his bedroom\u2019s d\u00e9cor.<\/p>\n

Murphy said he was going 25-30 miles an hour on an ebike when his back wheel locked, and he was thrown off. A buddy he was riding with him called 911. Eventually, an MedEvac helicopter transported him to St. Luke\u2019s Children\u2019s hospital, where he received an operation to relieve swelling and bleeding in his brain.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeeing the superheroes was amazing,\u201d he said. \u201cIt made my day.\u201d His mother Amanda Corter, added, \u201cIt made his life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gretchen Duffy, St. Luke\u2019s child life services coordinator, said St. Luke\u2019s often provides opportunities to normalize the environment and remind children and teens that even though they\u2019re in the hospital they still get to have fun while they\u2019re here.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen kids are in the hospital they can be missing out on things like back-to-school celebrations and other normal, fun childhood activities,\u201d she said. \u201cBringing in special events is a really great way to do something positive and fun for the kids while they\u2019re here. There\u2019s great therapeutic value for kids and their families.\u201d<\/p>\n

Humble Heroes visited St. Luke\u2019s Children’s Hospital in January. Because they knew the heroes were in the building, some kids were so excited that they waited to go home until after meeting their favorite superhero.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are the celebrities of childhood to these kids,\u201d Duffy said. \u201cThey read about them, watch them on TV or see them in movies, and they represent superhuman creatures that are otherworldly. The volunteers really get into character. Spiderman comes in, crawling across the floor, and Batman has his hands perched on his hips. The costumes are so realistic and elaborate that the kids feel like they\u2019re meeting their favorite superheroes. It\u2019s really, really special.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photographer Anita Sergent of Emmaus shot photos of the heroes when they visited in January. As a photographer at St. Luke\u2019s, she\u2019s shot a lot of events, including pediatric visits with therapy dogs. She was so impressed by the impact the heroes\u2019 visit had on the children she asked to join their group.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir visit was the most I\u2019ve seen the children\u2019s faces light up \u2013 not only the kids, but the parents and the staff too,\u201d she said. Sergent, who, along with her husband, Jeff, is interested in cosplay. A word formed from \u201ccostume\u201d and \u201cplay,\u201d cosplay is a performance art where people dress up as characters from fictional works and act in character.<\/p>\n

Sergent, who sews and makes her own costumes, was impressed by the quality of the Humble Heroes\u2019 costumes and performances.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m super nerdy,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was great to find a group that shares my hobby. I thought they were doing such a positive thing and significantly impacting the kids. So, I called them afterward and said please, please, please let me join.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beyond being a member, Sergent helped Kenny Restrepo of Emmaus, who portrays Batman, form a Pennsylvania Chapter. Sergent and the group have since appeared at parades and visited hospitals, schools and events for special needs children.<\/p>\n

Sergent makes her own costumes, including Raven, her current character.\u00a0<\/em>Because the number of male superheroes far outnumber female ones, she is happy to portray a positive role model for girls.<\/p>\n

\u201cLittle girls are so excited to have a woman hero to look up to,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen they want to have their picture taken with me, rather than Batman, that really makes my day.\u201d<\/p>\n

About St. Luke\u2019s<\/strong><\/p>\n

Founded in 1872,\u00a0St. Luke\u2019s University Health Network<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(SLUHN) is a fully integrated, regional, non-profit network of more than 20,000 employees providing services at 15 campuses and 350+ outpatient sites.\u00a0 With annual net revenue of $3.4 billion, the Network\u2019s service area includes 11 counties in two states: Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Montgomery, Monroe, Schuylkill and Luzerne counties in Pennsylvania and Warren and Hunterdon counties in New Jersey. St. Luke\u2019s hospitals operate the largest network of trauma centers in Pennsylvania, with the Bethlehem Campus being home to St. Luke\u2019s Children\u2019s Hospital.<\/p>\n

Dedicated to advancing medical education, St. Luke\u2019s is the preeminent teaching hospital in central-eastern Pennsylvania.\u00a0 In partnership with Temple University, the Network established the Lehigh Valley\u2019s first and only four-year medical school campus.\u00a0 It also operates the nation\u2019s oldest School of Nursing, established in 1884, and 52 fully accredited graduate medical educational programs with more than 500 residents and fellows. In 2022, St. Luke\u2019s, a member of the Children\u2019s Hospital Association, opened the Lehigh Valley\u2019s first and only free-standing facility dedicated entirely to kids.<\/p>\n

SLUHN is the only Lehigh Valley-based health care system to earn Medicare\u2019s\u00a0five-star<\/em>\u00a0ratings (the highest) for quality, efficiency and patient satisfaction.\u00a0 It is both a Leapfrog Group and Healthgrades\u00a0Top Hospital<\/em>\u00a0and a Newsweek World\u2019s\u00a0Best Hospital<\/em>.\u00a0 The Network\u2019s flagship University Hospital has earned the\u00a0100 Top Major Teaching Hospital<\/em>\u00a0designation from Fortune\/PINC AI 10 years in a row, including in 2023 when it was identified as THE #4 TEACHING HOSPITAL IN THE COUNTRY.\u00a0 In 2021, St. Luke\u2019s was identified as one of the\u00a015 Top Health Systems<\/em>\u00a0nationally.\u00a0 Utilizing the Epic electronic medical record (EMR) system for both inpatient and outpatient services, the Network is a multi-year recipient of the\u00a0Most Wired<\/em>\u00a0award recognizing the breadth of the SLUHN\u2019s information technology applications such as telehealth, online scheduling and online pricing information. \u00a0The Network is also recognized as one of the state\u2019s lowest-cost providers.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Information provided to TVL by:
\nSam Kennedy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Anthony Murphy, 15, enjoyed a visit form the Humble Heroes at St. Luke’s Children’s Hospital on Friday morning. (Photo provided by St. Luke\u2019s University Health Network) Heroes\u2019 Prior Visit Spurs … Continue reading Humble Heroes Visit St. Luke\u2019s Children\u2019s Hospital<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":134424,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[69,482],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-134422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-the-valley","category-press-release-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/humble-heroes.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134422"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=134422"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134422\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/134424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=134422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=134422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=134422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}