'Like a sea of big stars': 'Moonbeams' returns to brighten spirits of children in hospital

Christina Hall, Detroit Free Press
·6 min read

It was a like a “perfect mistake.”

Shelley Chinn stood with students from Cranbrook outside Corewell Health William Beaumont University Hospital, Royal Oak (then Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak) in December 2017, shining lights up to the hospitalized children in the pediatric wing in a new program called “Moonbeams for Sweet Dreams.”

Shelley Chinn and her students from Cranbrook participate in Moonbeams for Sweet Dreams, the first year it began.
Shelley Chinn and her students from Cranbrook participate in Moonbeams for Sweet Dreams, the first year it began.

Days later, on Dec. 21, the mother and Cranbrook teacher found herself on the other side of the hospital windows with her then 19-year-old daughter, Abby, who has juvenile myoclonic epilepsy and had to spend the night to undergo a sleep study.

Chinn didn’t expect that she and her daughter would be in the children’s wing and was surprised when nurses came by saying they were going to drop off some flashlights.

“I said: ‘What are the flashlights for?” And they said: ‘Look outside. You’re on the children’s floor, and this is the floor where we do Moonbeams."

“And to just have experienced that from outside with my students, looking up at the kids in that corner of the building, and now, here we were inside looking out, it was kind of hard to put it into words,” Chinn said, tearing up as she remembered that night.

“It was pretty powerful. Just grateful. Thankful. Hopeful. All those amazing feelings that you don’t get to feel every single day.”

Abby Chinn, 19 and her mom participated in Moonbeams for Sweet Dreams, the first year it began. In this photograph on Dec. 21, 2017, Abby and her mom were inside the hospital in the pediatric unit for a sleep study for Abby. They were on the receiving end of Moonbeams that night.
Abby Chinn, 19 and her mom participated in Moonbeams for Sweet Dreams, the first year it began. In this photograph on Dec. 21, 2017, Abby and her mom were inside the hospital in the pediatric unit for a sleep study for Abby. They were on the receiving end of Moonbeams that night.
Shelley Chinn, a mom and teacher at Cranbrook, who in December 2017 was outside (with Cranbrook students) of the Royal Oak hospital for Moonbeams for Sweet Dreams, the first year it began. On Dec. 21, 2017 she and her then 19-year-old daughter Abby were inside the hospital in the pediatric unit for a sleep study for Abby. They were on the receiving end of Moonbeams that night.

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'It's just so powerful'

Patients and families will be able to experience Moonbeams joy this year as the event returns after a two-year hiatus because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s a truncated event compared to prior years, running Dec. 9 through Christmas Eve.

Community members and pediatric patients at Corewell Health William Beaumont University Hospital, Royal Oak, (formerly called Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak), spread joy to each other through the "Moonbeams for Sweet Dreams" event held in the evenings in December. Community members shine lights at the children hospitalized in the pediatric unit, and the children and their families in the hospital shine lights back at the crowd in an event that began in 2017 to help the hospitalized children and their families not feel as isolated during the holidays and to bring them cheer. The event took a hiatus in 2020 and 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but is returning from Dec. 9-24, 2022.

The event began in 2017 at the suggestion of the Beaumont Children’s Pediatric Family Advisory Council and continued through 2019, just a few months before the pandemic began in 2020.

At 8 p.m. each night, people gather outside the hospital for 10 minutes to shine beams of light (usually flashlights or cell phone lights) up to the windows of the pediatric unit for children and families to bring them joy.

In return, the patients and their families return the light to the crowd, which is usually standing in the cold and sometimes the snow.

The event is to raise the spirits of the children and their families who may feel lonely or isolated or have difficulty settling in for a good night of sleep while they are in the hospital. It’s also to spread cheer to them, as they aren’t able to participate in traditional holiday activities outside of the hospital.

The children have missed Moonbeams the last two years, and co-organizers said they have been receiving emails since September from the community, Scout groups, sports teams and first responders inquiring whether it will be back this year, said co-organizer Lisa Muma, a nurse navigator in the Pediatric Oncology Long-term Follow-up Clinic.

This trio partakes in the festivities with their eyes and flashlights lifted upwards to the pediatric unit at Corewell Health William Beaumont University Hospital, formerly Beaumont, Royal Oak.
This trio partakes in the festivities with their eyes and flashlights lifted upwards to the pediatric unit at Corewell Health William Beaumont University Hospital, formerly Beaumont, Royal Oak.

“It’s just so powerful. It’s beautiful. The lights are gorgeous,” said co-organizer Kathleen Grobbel, a child life supervisor at Beaumont Children’s, of being on the unit during Moonbeams nights. “It looks like a big sea of stars. It’s just amazing. And the kids are super excited to shine their lights back at them.”

She said the unit is large with about 65 beds and new beds added. Recently, the unit has been 80% to 100% full.

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'Spirit of the community' shines bright

In past years, the co-organizers said, one young boy asked if all the people outside were there for him; and a girl unexpectedly admitted to the hospital said it was okay because “it’s Moonbeams.”

A pediatric patient participates in Moonbeams for Sweet Dreams from the inside.
A pediatric patient participates in Moonbeams for Sweet Dreams from the inside.

One year, there was huge snowstorm and a crowd from the neighborhood came out, worried the snow would keep people away. Other times, children come out with signs to support their classmates who are hospitalized.

“It just shows you that spirit of the community,” Grobbel said. “They really do want to support those patients and families.”

“Makes a huge, huge difference for the kids who are in the hospital,” Muma said, adding the event is fairly unique nationally, with people from administration and other departments helping to direct traffic and park cars.

The co-organizers said they didn’t know how the community would respond to the first Moonbeams event and they hoped for 50 people. But it's grown to more than 1,000 per night and includes groups signing up in advance.

This year, the health system will monitor rates of infections including respiratory syncytial virus or RSV, COVID-19 and the flu for the safety of the community and patients. If a cancellation is needed, that will be communicated via Beaumont.org and through its social media channels.

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What to know if you go

Here are a few suggestions and details from hospital representatives if you plan to attend Moonbeams this year:

  • Groups of 10 or more are encouraged to register online.

  • Gather on the sidewalk near the Medical Office Building and across from the East Entrance.

  • Arrive by 7:45 p.m. to allow time to park. Carpool if you can.

  • Parking is available in the small parking lot across from the North Parking Deck and just east of the Medical Office Building on the hospital campus. From the 13 Mile entrance, follow the blue signs toward the North Parking Deck and park in the lot across from the parking deck entrance. Additional parking also is available near the Coolidge entrance and at the Neuroscience Center.

  • Stay home if you are experiencing symptoms of cold, flu or COVID-19.

  • Don’t bring drones or laser pointers.

  • Don’t enter the main hospital; use restrooms in the Medical Office Building.

'Your heart goes out to them'

Chinn said she plans to return to Moonbeams this month with Cranbrook students.

“You would just see these families sitting at the window with their little ones … Your heart goes out to them. They shouldn’t be there in the first place. And just the love that they feel, looking outside. The people staring up at them,” she said.

Individuals from the community in combination with emergency responders gather outside the pediatric unit at Corewell Health William Beaumont University Hospital, formerly Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak to shine their light up to the pediatric unit as part of annual Moonbeams for Sweet Dreams campaign.
Individuals from the community in combination with emergency responders gather outside the pediatric unit at Corewell Health William Beaumont University Hospital, formerly Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak to shine their light up to the pediatric unit as part of annual Moonbeams for Sweet Dreams campaign.

“Because it’s more than just standing outside and waving and just feeling the presence of people that care about you. There’s firefighters there … the kids would make signs. I know the Cranbrook kids − they were singing Christmas carols. It’s such a sense of community for those of us that are outside and then the connection to those that are inside.”

For more information, go to www.beaumont.org/moonbeams.

Contact Christina Hall: chall@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter: @challreporter.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: 'Moonbeams' event to spread cheer to hospitalized children returns