A limo was parked outside. Young women in elegant dresses and young men in sharp suits entered the dance floor through gold and burgundy curtains. Parents milled around outside, perhaps staying a beat longer than their sons and daughters would have liked them to.
On Sat., May 15 teens attended a prom much like other proms around the country, with one caveat: the teens were long-term-stay patients at Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital of New York Presbyterian, and the prom was being held inside the hospital’s doors.
Teens worked with hospital staff to organize a “Moonlight Masquerade” themed prom.
According to Toni Millar, the hospital’s Director of Childlife, the idea of a prom emerged when the teens were talking about life milestones they miss while being in the hospital.
The first prom was held in 2009. The teen who came up with the original idea of having a prom at the hospital passed away before the second prom in 2010. Millar spoke of the second prom as “a kind of honorarium” to the teen that passed away.
