Hospital turns to radio to get message to Santa

Thousands of miles from the North Pole, HAM radio operators are tuning in from St Joseph's Children's Hospital in Tampa, Florida.

"The north pole's a long way away. No cell phones up there," said Len Calahan, who is the Senior Maintenance Mechanic for the hospital and a member of the BayCare Emergency Amateur Radio (BEAR).

BEAR uses HAM radios in the event that telephone services are down to get word out and in. "If something like Katrina happens, we can talk to volunteers and communicate to just about anyone," said Calahan. In this case, BEAR techs use the radios to connect kids who are spending the holidays in the hospital to St. Nick himself.

"Whether they understand the technology or not, they are hearing Santa Claus and that's making a little bit of a difference," said Bob McElroy, who goes room to room letting kids make Christmas requests through a two way communicator.

Read the fully story from David Leonard, and watch the 10Connects.com video