Superheroes helping kids at the hospital

It’s a good thing superheroes aren’t afraid of heights. Window cleaners of a Canadian hospital dressed as superheroes to make the young patients inside happy. Spiderman, Batman, Iron Man, Superman, Thor and GI Joe got together in August 2016 at the Kingston General Hospital in Ontario for three hours and cleaned the windows. The hospital’s photographer was there to capture the first reaction of the young patients. He took hundreds of photos and people have shared the pictures on social media.

7 year-old Luke Carter was in hospital with serious injuries from a bike crash. They moved him from his room to the other side of the hospital so he could see them. “He was thrilled” says his mother. “His uncle gave him a gift of a Batman toy and he was holding it up to the window cleaner dressed as Batman. The superheroes were there for 20 minutes. They were drawing smiley faces on the windows with soap and giving him thumbs up through the glass.” Luke said the day was “awesome”.

Chris Stoness was the manager of the team of superhero window cleaners. “Everybody picked a superhero suitable for their personality. I got Batman because nobody wanted to wear his costume. It was the warmest costume and it was boiling hot outside.”

Chris described the effect of the show on the children and himself, “Some of those kids were very sick and frail but they were laughing and waving. It was a unique personal experience to help them forget that they were sick. I wasn’t prepared for how much of a positive impact it would have on the kids - to see a sick child in a full body cast forget that they are in a full body cast for a second is pretty great.”