Calgary police, the fire department, EMS, and other partners will sound their sirens for children and staff at the Alberta Children’s Hospital on Christmas Eve.
The Lights of Hope is an annual gesture where emergency crews give a heartfelt shout-out to the children, families, and medical staff who are there over the holidays.
Calgary police Supt. Cliff O’Brien tells 660 NewsRadio crews, including police from various units, Calgary Transit, EMS, and Tsuut’ina police, have been gathering for over a decade at the hospital.
“We know that there are families sitting in the hospital accompanying their children, and you have doctors and nurses and the hospital staff that are also there taking care of our children who are sick,” he told 660 NewsRadio.
“One of the things that we want to do as first responders and have done for many years now is try to get together and give them a quick shout out, a quick … hopefully put a smile on their face.”
The decade-long tradition starts at about 6 p.m. on Dec. 24 and tends to have over 30 vehicles showing support for the children in the hospital.
Emergency crews gather to drive around the children’s hospital in a noisy and multi-coloured display hoping to lift the spirits of youngsters there over the holidays and to thank the nurses and doctors caring for them.
O’Brien, who has been part of the Lights of Hope for eight years, says it hasn’t been a challenge to recruit people to drive by, with many stopping by on their days off, while others stay late.
“You see families and staff and certainly little children in the window waving at us, and as first responders, we know how important the staff is at the hospital and how important putting a smile on children is, especially at Christmas time,” he said.
“It’s impactful for the first responder family, but hopefully what we’re seeing is that it’s impactful for the families, the staff, and certainly the children in the hospital.”
This year the RCMP, CN police, the CPKC police, and Alberta Sheriffs are among those lighting up the night.