The arrival of the toys at CHC hospital on Friday will also allow hospital authorities to expedite their effort of reopening the playroom of the pediatric ward, according to nursing supervisor Gayline Blau.
The shipment of toys from Hawaii was the idea of young cancer survivor, Angelray “Bo” Guerrero who spent several months in a Hawaii hospital.
With a help of Hawaii state Rep. Glenn Wakai’s Reach Out Pacific, the 14-year-old packed 60 boxes of boys into a 24-foot container van and sent them here.
“The playroom [at the Hawaii hospital[ really helped me not think about everything and made me feel like I was not sick at all,” Guerrero said.
Like Wakai, Guerrero’s mother, Vicky, is a former KMCV reporter.
Bo Guerrero said Wakai was a good listener.
“I just told him everything, like what I went through and how the playroom really helped me.”
He added, “The playroom will give you so many things to do that you won’t really get bored. It’s where I usually played games and took my mind off my sickness. So I thought that it would really be nice actually to have something like this at CHC.”
“And now that it’s coming true, I feel really happy,” he added.
Blau, in a separate interview, said the hospital used to have a playroom for the pediatric ward.
But in the early 1990s, it was shut down.
For more than 10 years now, the room is being occupied by the social services office which will now be moved to CHC’s new facility.
On Friday, the CHC pediatric ward had three young patients.
“We feel very blessed because we don’t have much toys here for the sick children to play with,” Blau said.
The toys from Hawaii will be temporarily stored in one of the rooms of pediatric ward until the playroom reopens, she added.
“Kids are important because they are the future. Without them, I don’t think we’ll have a future,” Bo Guerrero said.
Senate President Pete P. Reyes, R-Saipan, helped unload the toys at CHC.
He expressed his admiration for Guerrero, saying the CNMI is “so lucky to have someone like Bo.”
Rep. Rosemond B. Santos, R-Saipan, is now drafting a resolution to recognize Guerrero’s compassion.
She said it is a great example showed by someone who wants to help alleviate the pain of sick children.
Santos also noted the help of government agencies and the community members in the shipment of the toys.
She acknowledged Matson for shipping the goods for free.
She also thanked the Commonwealth Ports Authority, Customs, Saipan Stevedore and Fast Moving.
“It’s a community effort and it’s very heart warming to see them come together for the children,” Santos said.
