Joe Herr, dressed in festive leprechaun attire, visits with one-day-old Na'havea Mays, held by her uncle Cleaster Moon in the Family Care Suites at St. Mary's Hospital in Madison, Wis., on Saint Patrick's Day, Monday morning, March 17, 2014. Herr has been visiting local hospitals, schools, nursing homes and hospices, giving small dolls and playing Irish tunes on a harmonica for about eight years. Monday at St. Mary's, he visited patients in a pediatric unit and the NICU, as well as newborns in the Family Care Suites.
"As adults we sometimes forget about the magic and wonderment in life, and seeing these kids reminds you of it," he says. St. Mary's Hospital has a special place in Herr's heart, as his son Logan was both born and died there. "The biggest reason I feel compelled to do this is I know what it's like to have your child in the hospital. The frustration, the anguish, and the unknown," Herr says. "I was touched one year, when one of the parents said, 'Thank you. You gave us five minutes to not think about what we were dealing with.' Nobody ever has a frown when they get to see a leprechaun. Everybody's smiling." M.P. KING -- State Journal
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