CLEVELAND — There were dancing volunteers, children's cheers, and a dedicated group of St. Vincent Charity Medical Center peers at the hospital's annual trick-or-treat event.
"It's helping us to live the spirit of the hospital and spread it into the neighborhood," said Sister Miriam Erb, of the mission and ministry program.
For the past decade, these doctors, nurses and volunteers have been passing out candy and leading spooky activities for Cleveland's Central community.
The last few years have served adults, too, with free health screenings, meals and bags of household goodies for those in need.
But Friday was different: It was the last time for this event on the cusp of the hospital's transition into an outpatient hospital.
"Oh, I am very sad. I am very sad, but we're looking at this as a transformation about changing what we are doing. So we're not so much inpatient any longer, but we're outpatient. We're here for the people of the neighborhood and how to help them. And there's so many needs here. You just look around and you can tell. So we'll be stretching ourselves in new ways to help the people in the neighborhood, but also we have an anchor here with our healthcare center and our doctors that are staying here in our walk-in services. So we will be here," said Sister Miriam.
St. Vincent Charity diabetes coordinator, Leslie Andrews, agreed.
"I think the caregivers were extremely blessed to be able to do this one more time for the community. That is the mission of the hospital -- to serve the community and these kids are the future of this community," she said.
Though this is the last Halloween event, the mission to serve will continue.
"We've always been here for the people of Central. We love them and wanna care for them, and always do what we can," Sister Miriam said.
St. Vincent Charity Medical Center will make the transition from inpatient to outpatient next month.
In a statement, Southwest General Hospital noted it would continue the hospital's great work:
"Starting in November 2022, Southwest General Health Center will continue the nationally recognized work of St. Vincent Charity Medical Center’s Center for Bariatric Surgery. The announcement comes in light of St. Vincent Charity Medical Center making the difficult decision to stop providing inpatient and surgical care at its downtown Cleveland facility earlier this year. The newly named “Center for Bariatric Surgery at Southwest General” will provide care to current and future patients at the hospital’s Main Campus in Middleburg Heights."
Editor's Note: The following video is from a previous report.
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