I found an article on http://kykernel.com/ called "Mascot brings a smile to childrens' faces" by Morgan Eads. This article is related to the Kentucky Children's Hospital's mascot, Stitches. Stitches is a wildcat kitten that became a mascot for the hospital in 2008. The purpose of Stitches was to help cheer up patients at the Children's Hospital. Auditions were held for the role of the mascot and the article tells about the girls who took the position and why they did. The girls talk about how being a mascot takes more work than one would imagine. They say it requires creativity, patience, and quick thinking. Although the costume can get hot inside and be a bit tiring, they say that in the end, seeing the smiles on the kid's faces is completely worth it. Some questions I have are, could the hospital possibly have another mascot in addition to Stitches? What kind of events do the mascots attend? Do they visit the other UK healthcare facilities? How did the idea of Stitches come about? Personally, I also love working with children. Pediatrics is a field that I am interested in. I don't think I would want to be a mascot, however this article does make me want to do some kind of volunteer work for the hospital. I might use the information specifically about Stitches in a documentary if I were to create one about the Kentucky Children's Hospital. But, I would also like to combine it with more background and history of Stitches and include the same thought I had in a previous post about how the staff for UK Healthcare are very caring and passionate for their patients and their job.
Its is super cool all the background you found on the mascot. I would have never even put thought into that. A mascot to a children's hospital is something that would never cross my mind but it definitly has a huge impact on the kids lives and makes them so much happier. Something I would like to know was when did Stitches come around for the first time and were kids ever scared of him? Has he always had the same positive impact on kids or was there a time when people had to warm up to the idea of a giant cat costume?
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