Children at the Memorial Hospital of South Bend stare out the south-facing windows at the construction site next door.
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That’s because they know that somewhere in the construction site, Waldo (of Where’s Waldo?, the children’s series of picture books, fame) is hiding – and it’s their task to find him.
Heidi Prescott, the hospital’s media specialist, told ABC News that the simple initiative has created a significant impact on their pediatric patients. “It brightens their days and it brightens our days, too”. Each time a child finds Waldo, a hospital worker informs Haney, he hides the cutout again, and the search starts over.
“She’s 18 now and going to be starting Ball State next year”, he proudly added. Haney told the media that he understands what it’s like to have a child in the hospital – his daughter had a stroke in utero and, when she was about 3-years-old, was found to have suffered brain damage as a result. “They did a CAT scan and they found out there was brain damage and were talking about her in the fact that she wouldn’t learn past the third grade level, and it just devastated us”. “She graduated with honors. There goes that third grade level thing that first doctor told us”, Haney explained, proud of his girl. Soon after that, Haney placed a blow-up snowman and a blow-up Sponge Bob Square Pants for the kids to see. They lit up at night and would wave in the wind.
“He came up to me, and was kind of joking around, and said, ‘Wouldn’t it be amusing if there was a Waldo up here?'” Haney told the Huffington Post.
The idea stuck with Jason, so he and Taylor chose to create the 8-foot-tall wooden Waldo, which was made out of plywood and then painted.
For these families finding Waldo is more than just a game.
The real-life game of “Where’s Waldo?” has become so popular among the kids at the hospital that Jason created a Facebook page dedicated to the game where parents can tag photos when their kids find Waldo.
“It depends on how well on I hide it”, Haney joked. He made this 8-foot wooden Waldo with his daughter.
The Good Samaritan decided the kids needed some cheering up, so he invented a game for them to play. “I put him in elevators and hide him around the hospital, too”.
“Thank you for building Waldo and you know, being happy, thank you for making me happy”, says Neveah.
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Unbeknownst to the children, he’s also working on finishing up four smaller Minion characters to start hiding. “It’s just fantastic to watch the kids’ faces light up and to see them look forward to looking out their windows every day”.
