On Tuesday November 3, the Homer Medical Center will host the annual great candy exchange from 3-6 for children under the age of 10. Youth are invited to bring in their Halloween candy and exchange it for fun, sugar free prizes. Derotha Ferraro, director of public relations and marketing, with South Peninsula Hospital provided more details: “over the years we have been able to round up sometimes as much as over 100 pounds of trick or treat candy from the kids who are very thoughtful about their trade. I have watched children put their candy on the scale and look at how much they're giving and take some back or put their candy on the scale and add more because the way it works is that you put your candy on the scale based on how much you put on there. You get a ticket and then you take your ticket shopping for the various levels of prizes.”
In addition to children being able to go in and trade in their trick or treat candy, they also can get free flu shots. “It'll be a great chance for families to check in on their child's vaccine records. We'll have a computer set up with staff there, so that while kids are trading candy, mom or grandma or whoever can talk about if the child is up to date on their vaccine records. The great thing about those is that it is on the public or on the state of Alaska website. So even if your child is not a patient at Homer Medical Center, it does not matter because they're accessing the state vaccine record at that time. This is open to everybody, any child in the community 10 and under, regardless of where they receive their primary care,” Ferraro said.
Finally Ferraro noted that the turned in candy isn’t simply thrown away: “The candy is put to good use for those who can enjoy it best and will appreciate it.”
On Halloween, the long-term care unit of South Peninsula Hospital welcomes trick-or-treaters from four to 6pm.
Reporting from Homer, this is Emilie Springer.
