Super capes for super kids

“Not all superheroes wear capes, some wear lab coats,” was the theme used during Lab Week from April 19-25 at Nebraska Medicine.

Lab employees across the organization took that theme to heart and came up with a unique way to help bring smiles to the faces of pediatric patients at Nebraska Medicine-Nebraska Medical Center.

During Lab Week, employees held a competition, creating their own superhero cape designs. They took the winning design, which was created by medical lab scientist Jodi Christensen, and had capes made for the hospital’s pediatric patients. Christensen’s winning design features the Nebraska Medicine logo with the words, “Extraordinary Kids.”

On Thursday, lab employees delivered the super capes to super kids’ rooms at Nebraska Medicine. Employees were excited to see the final result of their project.

“We always try to give back to a special cause outside the lab,” said medical lab scientist Brenda Jershin. “This year, we thought it would be nice to do something for our pediatric patients. We came up with the cape idea and called it, ‘Super Capes for Super Kids.'”

Funds to help pay for the capes were collected by selling “candy grams” for $1 during Lab Week. Staff placed individually wrapped pieces of candy in clean urine sample cups with the “to and from” tag designed to look like a specimen label.

“We’re all such lab geeks,” Jershin said. “But, the candy grams were a hit! We had almost 1,200 orders.”