YOUNGSTOWN Group arranges for Santa to talk to kids in hospital

YOUNGSTOWN -- Not being able to go home for the holidays can be disappointing, especially for children in the hospital.
To make the season a little brighter for those children, members of the Mahoning Valley Amateur Radio Association bring the magic of Christmas to the bedside of children at Forum Health Tod Children's Hospital.
For the past three years, the group has produced a Santa Claus network. Again this year, members of the Amateur Radio Association will bring the network to the hospital from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Dec. 18.
Through the use of hand-held walkie-talkie type radios, the children get an opportunity to talk to Santa, who is on the other end of the radio at the North Pole. The children tell Santa what they would like for Christmas.
"It's the high-tech way to talk to Santa Claus," explained Jack Sovik, an amateur radio operator and member of the Amateur Radio Association. "This is a unique way for us to cheer up kids and make the holidays a little easier. The kids really get excited when they get to talk to Santa."
Holly N. Jaschok of the child life and education department at the hospital said, "Sometimes the children will question visiting Santas as to how they can be in the hospital, when they have so many toys to make? With the Santa Net, they hear Santa 'working' as he listens to their Christmas wishes and responds to them."