It was an early start, and a time almost unknown to them, but the Baptist Health account team; Amy, Amanda, Jennifer and Abi awoke at 4am on Saturday November 15th for the grand opening of the Baptist Medical Plaza at Country Walk, an event they had been gearing up to for months.
This was no ordinary grand opening. This was a grand opening designed with kids in mind, just like the new Baptist Health Pediatric Diagnostic Imaging Center.
Dressed in the whole safari garb, hats and all, the Mad 4 account team rolled up their sleeves and got to work with sixty other volunteers to set up before the 9AM start.
When everything was ready, the event went off with a bang (literally) as multicolored streamers shot out from rooftop cannons and flew through the sky above the crowds of families gathered around the stage for the speeches.
MetroZoo’s very own Amazonas band gave a toe-tapping performance and Radio Disney amused kids with all sorts of fun and games. The event had been catered with enormous imagination and attention to detail: young and old indulged in elephant-shaped cookies and pots of what looked like gloop and dirt with worms, which were apparently, delicious.
The sun beamed down record high temperatures as hoards of little explorers went through the different adventure-themed rooms of the center searching for stops on the safari trail at which to get stickers for their safari passports. It seemed more like the opening of a movie theatre, than a Diagnostic Imaging Center, with UV light shows and music playing in each room,
Cars would slow down to get a view of the commotion as they passed by safari explorers with wide-brimmed hats and huge white tents full of people, all cordoned off by a large white picket fence.
When 1.00pm eventually rolled around, the children of Country Walk were exhausted from all of the exploring and eating they had done, not to mention the excitement of touching real live baby crocodiles and snakes. What a good thing there was an Urgent Care Center right next door!
While families left with balloons, goodie bags, face-painted children and smiles on their faces, the Mad 4 team left with feet full of blisters and a lot of sleep to catch up on, but they had a whole lot of jungle fun.
