The Children’s Hospital of San Antonio pandemic visit different but blessed

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Catholic News Agency

The Children’s Hospital of San Antonio pandemic visit different but blessed

Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller, MSpS, once again had a very busy December Advent visit to The Children’s Hospital of San Antonio, even though he was not able to continue his annual tradition of visiting patients and families in their rooms and distributing gifts due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The archbishop blessed the new Jardin de Los Niños in a small ceremony with remarks given by Sarah E. Hetue Hill, regional vice president of Mission Integration for the CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Health System; Dr. Charles Hankins, president and chief medical officer of The Children’s Hospital of San Antonio; Cris Daskevich, chief executive officer of The Children’s Hospital of San Antonio; Gabriela De Faria Lira, member of the Mission Council at The Children’s Hospital of San Antonio; and Suzanne Feldmann, The Children’s Hospital Foundation Board member.

Archbishop Gustavo then blessed 50 Christmas trees donated by various departments in the hospital which will be donated to Catholic Charities of the archdiocese to distribute to families in need. J. Antonio Fernández, president/CEO of Catholic Charities, was on hand for the event and expressed his gratitude to CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Health System and The Children’s Hospital of San Antonio for their continued generosity. Afterwards, the archbishop also gave a blessing to Marcus the pup, the newest associate at the hospital and the first member of the PUPPYatrics team in the Child Life Department.

In the hospital chapel, Archbishop Gustavo met with a mother and father from Turkey whose son Ruzgar is receiving treatment for Spinal Muscular Atrophy with the OneGene treatment, which must be administered to the child before the age of two. The family selected The Children’s Hospital of San Antonio after contacting many other hospitals in the United States for this lifesaving treatment.