About 2 months ago, I found myself in the ER for the first time in my life. 22 years old without one single trip to the hospital was quite the accomplishment. I’m all good now, but while there I found myself reverting to a state of childlike wonder with everything surrounding me. One video I used to watch as a child came to mind as I sat in the ER room with my mom and sister waiting on test results: “Sesame Street Visits The Hospital.” This 1990 direct-to-video special helped kids understand that the hospital is where you go to get better, and that it’s ok to be scared. But it’s also important to be brave and focus on getting healthy again. As a 22-year-old college student, riding the hospital bed to the X-Ray room brought back memories of watching Big Bird doing the same. I realized from watching that video as a young child, I never had any fears or worries about going to the hospital. All because of what I learned from Sesame Street.
While characters such as Gina, Gordon and Elmo make minor appearances, the bulk of the video features Big Bird and his friend Maria, who takes him to the hospital when he gets sick. Big Bird hates being there and gets angry at Maria for taking him, until he begins to learn about what a hospital really is. The spcecial features two very catchy songs, and even after not having seen this video for years, I instantly remembered them. Sonia Manzano wrote both of these songs, although the second one she co-wrote in fact alongside Tony Geiss (who also wrote “Eight Balls of Fur”, “Elmo’s Song” and “I’m Proud to Be a Cow”).
The song “Busy Getting Better All the Time” features Big Bird meeting new friends in the hospital play room, as he begins to discover they aren’t just playing, but getting healthier as they play. One of my favorite characters in the song is the Grouch girl who is in the hospital because she’s feeling happy. The second song, titled “You Gotta Be Patient (To Be a Patient)” happens when Big Bird wants desperately to go home, so Maria and Orderly Jim explain that he needs to be patient and do what the doctors tell him, and pretty soon he’ll be able to go home.
I appreciate how this video takes children through the step-by-step process of what a trip to the hospital is like. That way, when a child is actually in this situation, they already have an idea of what a hospital is all about, and that can calm their fears.
Of course, this video isn’t the only time Sesame Street has tackled hospital visits and I’m sure it won’t be the last one. A 1985 storybook, “A Visit to the Sesame Street Hospital”, features Grover visiting the hospital to get his tonsils taken out. He’s nervous about spending the night there, so he takes a tour of the hospital with Bert, Ernie and his mother. In an interesting twist, a season 28 episode of Sesame Street in 1996 featured Maria going to the hospital, and Big Bird recalling his previous visit to the hospital to her daughter Gabi. Noah Wyle, at that time starring on the popular TV drama ER, guest starred as Maria’s doctor, assuring Big Bird, Gabi and Luis that Maria will be okay.
Big Bird continues to help ease children’s fears of a trip to the hospital at the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital. There, a Big Bird statue was purchased from the Briarwood Mall and donated to the University of Michigan’s children’s hospital. It’s a beautiful statue of Big Bird and a really nice nod to Big Bird’s trip the hospital. He is still helping kids feel peaceful during what can sometimes be a scary time in life.
Sesame Street really did a fantastic job addressing hospital visits and helping to ease any fears children may have about them. I wouldn’t be surprised if the topic is covered again in the near future, as it is an important thing for children to understand. I have fond memories of “Sesame Street Visits the Hospital” even to this day, and one day I’m sure I’ll show it to my children.
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