Some hockey legends were on hand to open up the renovated outpatient paediatric unit at Orillia Soldiers' Memorial Hospital.
A grand opening took place Thursday afternoon just outside the unit.
Executives and staff at OSMH were joined by Hockey Night in Canada host Ron MacLean, former NHLers Adam Graves, Darryl Sittler, Jack Valiquette, and Mike Gartner, and former NHL referee Ron Hoggarth in the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
The renovations were the result in part of a donation from the Smilezone Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to transforming hospitals and health care spaces.
These improvements include colourful wall murals, modern furniture, and wall-mounted iPads.
Graves says parents with children in these units face obstacles 24 hours a day.
He says his organization is there to give them something to look forward to and ease that burden even if it's for 5 minutes.
The Smilezone Foundation was founded by Graves and Scott Bachly, whose father is from the Moonstone area.
Graves says the elder Bachly is a big part of the community for many years.
He says he has been a giving man and the apple does not fall too far from the tree with his son.
One of the patients who was at the grand opening was one-year-old Madeline Lesperance along with her parents Ryan and Andrea, and her older sister Emma.
Ryan Lesperance says Madeline had a spinal condition while in the womb where the spine was sticking out at the back.
He says there was an operation performed where the spine was put back in and there was months of healing once she was born.
Lesperance recalls one moment where his daughter was at the hospital for a doctors appointment and became agitated after a few hours in the doctor's office.
He says they saw one of the colourful murals that was being put up and it changed the tone and helped cheer her up.
