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WANTED HAPPY HELPERS: MUST LOVE CHILDREN
Sometimes in volunteer work we come across difficult people. We may wonder why they want to
volunteer and be part of a service oriented organization if they are not invested in those outside of
themselves.
Recently, a children’s hospital in Florida reviewed their evaluations. They were dead last in patient
satisfaction in the whole country. Wanting to change that very dubious distinction, they turned to The
Happiest Place on Earth. They contacted the Disney corporation and asked for help in turning things
around at their hospital. They learned some very valuable lessons in customer satisfaction.
At Disneyland and Disneyworld their employees who meet and greet people all day have two faces,
their backstage face and their on stage face when they are serving ice cream or dressed up as a Disney
character. The Backstage face may carry the cares and worries of the individual. They may be moody
or self absorbed, tired or feeling under the weather. But when they step on stage, they become
actors who are the happiest people on the face of the earth and who are only concerned about the
customers, who are the visitors at Disneyland and Disneyworld. The on stage face is one of concern
ONLY for making their customs smile and feel happy. The on stage face considers the customer the
most important person on the earth. It is their express duty to get a smile from everyone they meet.
Disney emphasizes that to work at Disney you must LOVE children.
The hospital took a page from Disney and began training their personnel to become completely
concerned with the feelings of their patients (Customers) and what would make them smile. They
greeted sick children arriving for surgery with a ukulele playing character from Jungle book. For a
moment the fears of the child and worry of the parents disappeared and they smiled. Staff was trained
to reach out with their hearts. To serve children they must love children. The hospital customer
satisfaction went up to over 80%, one of the highest in the nation.
WE should also take a page from Disney as we work diligently to serve children. Instead of deciding
how we think we can make things better for children, perhaps we better check our egos at the door
and discover what Children really need from us. We should not just serve children but love children.
As we try to make All children smile with the joy of learning and hope for the future, let’s make PTA
the “Happiest Place on Earth”.