I am writing on behalf of the patients and staff of Mercy Hospital Medical Center in Des Moines, IA to express our sincere appreciation for 8x8's efforts in making videoconferences with Santa available.

The Midwest Rural Telemedicine Consortium is a 38-site telemedicine network serving northern and southern Iowa with both broadband and POTS video technologies. We are currently developing home health, nursing home, and neonatal applications for the 8x8 ViaTV Videophone. When we learned of your promotion, we seized the opportunity to raise the spirits and lighten the hearts of some of our pediatric patients. We hastily configured a self-contained ViaTV roll-about and wheeled it up to our pediatrics unit on Wednesday, December 23. In coordination with the pediatric units' Child Life Specialist, two of our own elves rolled the 8x8 unit from room-to-room establishing video calls with Santa and then watching the magic happen.

About 14 patients from our pediatric floor, pediatric intensive care unit, and their parents were able to share in the experience. We even took the ViaTV into our neonatal intensive care unit where young siblings of our patients were able to visit with Santa Claus. I have to commend your Santa Claus on his ability to interact with each patient we presented and to engage both patients and parents in heartwarming dialogue. We truly believe our efforts and yours had the desired effects on the children we serve. We wish to sincerely thank you for your participation in this activity and encourage you to continue this tradition next year...

Once again, our most sincere and heartfelt appreciation to 8x8 for sponsoring videoconferences with Santa Claus at the North Pole.

Sincerely,