Blazers Visit Children's Hospitals on Get Well Tour
November 18, 2002
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The Blazers, in partnership with LifeWise Health Plan of Oregon, kicked off the first ever LifeWise Get Well Tour on November 18 where the team, along with its new mascot, Blaze, headed to Doernbecher Children's Hospital, Shriners, Legacy Emanuel, then Providence Child Care Center.
The team loaded on a bus departing from the Blazers Practice Facility and visited four Portland area children's hospitals.
Blazers players greeted kids, signed autographs, took photos and brought cheer to hospitalized children and their families. Children had the opportunity to have photos taken with Blazers players, coaches, and Blaze, and received care packages, including a backpack, hat, Nerf basketball, Blazers placard and a picture frame. The team visited nearly 300 kids.
The first stop on the trip was at Doernbecher Children's Hospital and Shriner's Children's Hospital. The team divided up to hit both facilities at once. With Blaze, Qyntel Woods, Scottie Pippen, Zach Randolph and some of the coaches heading into the hospital, the rest of the bus headed across the street.
Once at Doernbecher, the team was immediately greeted in the lobby by staff and parents. The elevators were loaded up and the players ascended to the top floor visiting children in the hematology and oncology units first. While Damon Stoudamire played cards with one patient, Dale Davis sat in on baking lessons in the kids kitchen. All of the children received their care packages, autographs and photos with the players.
"Just seeing them smile when you walk into the room is a great thing. It totally puts things in perspective," said Scottie Pippen.
After spending time with the each child and their family and getting 100-watt smiles from all of the kids, the team loaded up and headed for Legacy-Emanuel.
Upon entering the hospital, players divided into teams to visit children in several different units including the burn center, the school-age children and a couple other areas.
While Qyntel Woods and Zach Randolph talked about basketball and playing video games, Dale Davis and Scottie Pippen sat down with one patient to talk about race cars.
After another round of visits, it was time to move on to the last stop - Providence Child Care Center. At Providence, the staff gathered patients into two rooms so they could see all of the players at once. The team took turns visiting each room and leaving care packages, giving smiles and receiving lots love.
"It's really hard to go in there, but they look at you and smile and your heart just melts," said Ruben Patterson.
The Blazers, in partnership with LifeWise Health Plan of Oregon, kicked off the first ever LifeWise Get Well Tour on November 18 where the team, along with its new mascot, Blaze, headed to Doernbecher Children's Hospital, Shriners, Legacy Emanuel, then Providence Child Care Center.
The team loaded on a bus departing from the Blazers Practice Facility and visited four Portland area children's hospitals.
Blazers players greeted kids, signed autographs, took photos and brought cheer to hospitalized children and their families. Children had the opportunity to have photos taken with Blazers players, coaches, and Blaze, and received care packages, including a backpack, hat, Nerf basketball, Blazers placard and a picture frame. The team visited nearly 300 kids.
The first stop on the trip was at Doernbecher Children's Hospital and Shriner's Children's Hospital. The team divided up to hit both facilities at once. With Blaze, Qyntel Woods, Scottie Pippen, Zach Randolph and some of the coaches heading into the hospital, the rest of the bus headed across the street.
Once at Doernbecher, the team was immediately greeted in the lobby by staff and parents. The elevators were loaded up and the players ascended to the top floor visiting children in the hematology and oncology units first. While Damon Stoudamire played cards with one patient, Dale Davis sat in on baking lessons in the kids kitchen. All of the children received their care packages, autographs and photos with the players.
"Just seeing them smile when you walk into the room is a great thing. It totally puts things in perspective," said Scottie Pippen.
After spending time with the each child and their family and getting 100-watt smiles from all of the kids, the team loaded up and headed for Legacy-Emanuel.
Upon entering the hospital, players divided into teams to visit children in several different units including the burn center, the school-age children and a couple other areas.
While Qyntel Woods and Zach Randolph talked about basketball and playing video games, Dale Davis and Scottie Pippen sat down with one patient to talk about race cars.
After another round of visits, it was time to move on to the last stop - Providence Child Care Center. At Providence, the staff gathered patients into two rooms so they could see all of the players at once. The team took turns visiting each room and leaving care packages, giving smiles and receiving lots love.
"It's really hard to go in there, but they look at you and smile and your heart just melts," said Ruben Patterson.
