SPECIAL DELIVERY! Santa Kicks Off Holiday Season With Visit to Health First’s Holmes Regional Medical Center
By Space Coast Daily // December 2, 2025
Santa arrived in spectacular fashion aboard a Health First First Flight Air Ambulance helicopter
BREVARD COUNTY • MELBOURNE, FLORIDA – A special visitor flew into Melbourne for a special visit to Health First’s Holmes Regional Medical Center today.
No, it wasn’t the stork delivering the newest bundle of joy in the hospital’s Labor & Delivery Unit – but the man in red. The jolly elf himself – Santa Claus. And he arrived in spectacular fashion aboard one of Health First’s First Flight Air Ambulance helicopters.
Santa paid the special visit to Holmes Regional as hospital leaders, physicians, nurses and associates kicked off the holiday season with the annual tree lighting ceremony.
“When we learned Santa was going to be in town for business today, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to invite him over to Holmes Regional for a visit,” said Tiffany Bassani, Health First Director of Patient Logistics.
“Of course, what better and most fitting way for Santa to arrive then through the skies via First Flight, with a bird’s eye view of the city from atop Holmes Regional Medical Center!”
Health First Hospital Division President Mike Mullowney kicked off the special tree lighting ceremony.
“We are excited to kick off the holiday season with this time-honored tradition and are so glad you all could join us today,” said Mullowney.
“This year, we have an extra special guest joining us to light this beautiful Christmas tree. Taking a well-deserved break from his busy work at the North Pole, I am thrilled to welcome Santa!”
With that cue, Santa made a grand entrance down the staircase in the Holmes Regional Heart Center lobby to the cheers of dozens of associates and hospital visitors filling the room.”
Once finished with his tree lighting duties, Santa retreated for the important business of the day – visiting the hospital’s NICU and eagerly waiting children in the hospital’s Pediatric Emergency Room.
As Brevard County’s only dedicated Pediatric Emergency Department at Health First’s Holmes Regional Medical Center, the unit maintains a team of nurses trained in pediatrics.
The department is stocked with pediatric medical supplies, which is not always true of other standard hospital ERs — appropriately sized tubes and catheters, instruments, even child-sized patient gowns.
The Holmes Regional Pediatric Emergency Room is tailored to be sensitive to the very specific needs of our youngest patients, and it’s a showpiece for what Health First can bring to this community that we value so much.
And for a more immersive escape, kids get kindVR Virtual Reality Therapy – an interactive headset experience to assist in positive distraction. The unit even has specialized lights in the room that work to calm children, and an X-ray machine that looks like a submarine – all designed to put kids at ease.
A visit from Santa made an ER visit even more acceptable for the kids!
This was all very appealing to Santa’s eyes and was met with a nod of enthusiastic approval upon his final lap through the unit.
“Who doesn’t love Santa? I mean, even as an adult, I love Santa,” said Julie Newhouse, RN, Emergency Department Nurse Manager.
“I think his visit today will make them feel like they’re at home – versus in the hospital, being taken care of by these great nurses.
You know, I think that it always brings joy to our faces and to our hearts when we see Santa. Whether you’re young or old. This brings back memories if you’re older – and it creates new memories for the younger ones here today.”
