How Peppermint the Elf caused happy chaos during her stay at Cambridge Memorial Hospital

When 9-year-old Felicity Jensen of Cambridge, Ont., recently had to have ear surgery, the family's Elf on the Shelf Peppermint joined her.

But as these elves are wont to do, Peppermint didn't necessarily behave herself while at Cambridge Memorial Hospital.

The morning Felicity was getting ready to leave for the hospital, she and her mom, Miranda Jensen, noticed Peppermint and the family's second elf, Johnny, had made Peppermint a carrying case with the family's name on it. 

Peppermint was already in the case and ready to go, so the family took her along to the hospital and decided the elf could stay with Felicity. The care team at the hospital agreed Peppermint could come into the operating room if she stayed in her case.

LISTEN | How Peppermint the Elf made her human's hospital visit more delightful:

Tracy Astorino, a child life specialist at the hospital, was supposed to keep an eye on Peppermint, but admits she did take her eyes off the elf for a few minutes.

"I thought she was behaving," Astorino said. "Sure enough, when I arrived back into the room a few minutes later, she had gotten into a little bit more trouble."

Peppermint had somehow left her case and found herself a mask and hair net. Peppermint had also picked up a few other supplies, like Band-Aids and bandages.

"She even strung up a stuffed animal and decorated Felicity's bed for when she arrived back," Astorino said.

Making hospital stays a positive experience

Astorino was tasked with keeping an eye on Peppermint as part of her role as a child life specialist, where she works to ensure children are comfortable and relaxed when they need to undergo a procedure.

Astorino says it's her job to "make the experience of being in a hospital as positive as possible. Being in hospital can be overwhelming and frightening for children. And having a child in hospital is also tough on parents."

A child life specialist acts as an advocate who outlines the medical situations in an age-appropriate way and helps children and parents to better understand the circumstances, she said.

"We provide emotional support during procedures and distraction so that it's not as traumatic because as we all know, at some point in all of our lives, you eventually probably will have an experience at a hospital," Astorino said.

"So if we can try to mitigate those early experiences, then later in life, they won't be as traumatized and [people] will be more willing to seek help when needed."

'I didn't know that she was going to do that'

Felicity says she wasn't surprised by the elf's antics because Peppermint is the kind of elf who normally causes a little trouble.

"She's drawn on my mom's face. She pretended to break the TV," Felicity said.

The elf has also been found in the refrigerator and, one morning, was found to be walking on the ceiling.

When she woke up from her surgery and saw what Peppermint had done, Felicity says Peppermint's antics made her smile.

"I was very surprised because I didn't know that she was going to do that because she's an elf. I know they do really crazy things, but not that crazy," Felicity said.

Miranda Jensen says she can't thank the staff at Cambridge Memorial Hospital enough for helping her family through this and other trips there for care.

"A lot of times you hear a lot of the negative with health care, but we've only ever experienced positive things. Tracy's been there for both my children. They've had ear surgeries in the past as well and I know a lot of people that have dealt with Tracy as well. There's just nothing but positive comments," the mother said.

"All the staff there were fantastic. They made us — not just my daughter, but even myself, my husband — just feel at ease with everything."