Pediatric therapists rally to organize safe Trunk or Treat during pandemic

Participants decorated their trunks to hand out treats for a socially-distanced Halloween event at Progressive Pediatric Therapy in LakeWorth.

Trunk orTrunk events have become increasingly popular to celebrateHalloween in recent years, but theCOVID-19 pandemic made some of them the only events this year due to social distancing.

Progressive Pediatric Therapy in LakeWorth had its firstTrunk or Treat for families it serves and the community at its location at 3898 Poinciana Drive, Suite 17 onHalloween morning.

“Many of the childrenwe serve struggle to participate in traditional Halloween activities normally due to sensory processing concerns, developmental delays or mobility challenges, and then to addCOVID-19 on top of that puts some of the medically fragile children or thosewith preexisting conditions wework with at a higher risk,” saidTeresaHans, event organizer and occupational therapist with Progressive Pediatric Therapy. “Wewanted to provide our families, and ourselves, with an opportunity to participate in thisHalloween tradition in away thatwe could ensure safety for all.”

After pitching the idea to the office, Hans said 10 therapists immediately wanted to participate. They registered over 200 guests in advance with 17 decorated trunks and an ice creamtruck showing up.

“We had already been implementing safe, best practices in our clinic based on CDC recommendations to reduce risk for COVID-19 transmission, sowe applied those same best practices to setting up our trunk or treat. The end result was more thanwe could have hoped for,” she said. “Our staff came together on a volunteer basis and had awonderful time, and the families who participated felt safe and enjoyed themselves. It was great getting to see many of our familieswe serve in person, even while socially distanced, for the first time since the start of COVID-19, and this event really gave everyone something to look forward to and lift our spirits up during a time when those moments are a little harder to come by.”