Trending Topics

Okla. paramedics help kids enjoy Halloween

By Carrie Coppernoll
The Oklahoman
Copyright 2007 The Oklahoman

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. — Abby Root will trick-or-treat this year.

For many children, the Halloween tradition is exciting, but for this fourth-grader it’s thrilling. This will be the 10-year-old’s first time out. She is disabled and uses a wheelchair, and a pair of medics have volunteered to take her and a classmate trick-or-treating.

“They’re good,” Abby said of the volunteers, Michelle Holbrook and Glenda Kay Harjo.

Tonight, Holbrook and Harjo will pick up Abby and Luis Meraz, a 9-year-old second-grader, in their ambulance and drive them to the Haunt the Zoo for Halloween event at the Oklahoma City Zoo. Abby and Luis will be allowed to go in ahead of the other children and start the 1½-mile trick-or-treat trail early.

“It’s nice,” said Harjo, a paramedic from Norman. “It’s nice to have kids in the back of the (ambulance) who don’t need a medic.”

Abby will be dressed as a cat, and Luis is going as a fireman. Both said they’re hoping for some M&Ms. The two attend Johnson Elementary School in northwest Oklahoma City. EMSA volunteers have taken two students from the school trick-or-treating for several years, school spokeswoman Linda Pelton said. School staff choose which children will go on the special outing. Both of the students are excited, Pelton said.

The volunteers are excited, too. Harjo and Holbrook helped with the trick-or-treating last year. The event doesn’t take much time, but the payoff is huge, said Holbrook, also from Norman. The children smile and laugh the whole time, she said. Harjo added, it’s a chance for the children to build their confidence.

“These kids should get to (go trick-or-treating),” she said. “They’re still kids.”