Pediatric heart patients reunite with staff at Mount Sinai Hospital

NEW YORK -- There was a touching reunion in Manhattan Wednesday night for hundreds of pediatric heart patients.

It was an annual reunion party for kids treated at Mount Sinai Hospital's Kravis Children's Hospital.

Doctors, nurses and other medical staff members joined the children during the special event.

Hospital staff say it's one of their favorite events of the year.

"This is the time when we see the patients the way we want to see them, not in the office on the examining table or having an ultrasound or procedure, but doing things that normal kids do, enjoying the fruits of our labor and their parents' labor," said Dr. Ira Parness, of Mount Sinai Hospital.

Some former child patients who are now adults return every year to reunite with their caretakers.