(WWJ) – It’s spooky season and kids all over Michigan are making plans for their Halloween costumes at the end of the month.
But not all kids are able to go out trick-or-treating due to medical restrictions.
That’s where Medstar Ambulance comes in. Michigan’s largest EMS and mobile healthcare provider is giving Michigan kids a chance to trick-or-treat on Halloween who otherwise wouldn’t get the chance.
WWJ’s Erin Vee spoke with Medstar’s Kolby Miller, who says the company will be decking out one ambulance each in Macomb, Wayne, Genesee, Bay and Lapeer Counties in Halloween decorations and bringing kids around predetermined neighborhoods for some trick-or-treating.
Kids with medical challenges will be picked up in the “spooktacular” ambulance at their homes or medical facilities between 6-9 p.m. and be taken with a family member or two to the nearest, safest neighborhood.
EMS personnel will then take the child on a stretcher and wheel them up and down the sidewalks to houses for a half hour.
Miller says it’s really important for kids and their families fighting medical battles.
“They’re really trying to capitalize on the little bit of time you have with your kids to take them out trick-or-treating, kind of do it up extra in the back of the truck so even the ride in the back of the ambulance is fun for them,” he said.
The EMS staff at Medstar go above and beyond to make holidays like Halloween special for kids who are going through tough times, working well into the nights to decorate the ambulances.
“When special occasions like this come around, we know that there’s kids who’d like to be out trick-or-treating and certainly see the other kids out trick-or-treating and knowing that we help move young patients and older patients back and forth to appointments sometimes or to hospitals or even on emergency calls, we know that when there’s something like Halloween when we can put those same skills and the same vehicles and the same personnel who love to do this stuff - we can help kids throughout our service area,” Miller said.
He says if it’s done right and everything is lined up, they can take a couple of kids in each ambulance over the course of the night.
Anyone interested in nominating a kid for the event can fill out a form on Medstar’s website or email rmccrary@medstarambulance.org.
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