Santa Claus was spotted flying over Nanaimo early Tuesday morning, but left his sleigh at home instead opting for a flight in an air ambulance helicopter that landed at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital.

Santa was there to visit sick children in the hospital’s paediatric unit as well as five other hospitals on Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland.

This is the 19th year that BC Emergency Health Services and Helijet have flown Santa to deliver toys to children during the holidays.

One of the children that saw Santa was Aura von Poser who is just three months old.

Her mother Erin Sowerby Greene held her as she met Santa having returned to the hospital after spending time in the neonatal intensive care unit when she was born.

"She's just been having some difficulties with choking so we're coming in to just check it out with a pediatrician and make sure everything's okay. Santa was an unexpected surprise."

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