On Christmas morning at Kelvington Hospital, patients’ eyes blink open as Christmas carols echo through the corridors from a boom box at the nurses’ station.
The breakfast trays arrive as they do every day, but this morning they include Christmas napkins and stickers on name cards. A festively wrapped parcel
from the hospital’s ladies auxiliary sits nearby waiting to be opened.
Tinsel, trees and treats are scattered throughout the 17-bed hospital in east-
central Saskatchewan.
Each year, 42 hospital staff and a host of volunteers help provide these extra comforts for patients unable to leave the wards. Often community carolers also drop in to sing.
Read Also
August rain welcome, but offered limited relief
Increased precipitation in August aids farmers prior to harvest in southern prairies of Canada.
“Even if sick, it brightens their day to see the decorations,” said Jackie McChesney, administrative assistant for the local hospital, lodge and home care program.
Margaret Pirie said Christmas can be a difficult time.
“Sometimes working in a hospital can be very sad and hard, especially in a small town because you know everyone,” the special care aide said.
Nurse Tracy Hughes, a native of nearby Lintlaw, Sask., sees that aspect as positive because it means there is usually a familiar face to greet. She finds that helpful in establishing a good rapport with patients.
“It’s easier (for patients) to trust someone they already know.”
She said nurses make the extra effort to spend more time in one-on-one conversations with patients at Christmas.
Later in the day, a special Christmas dinner arrives with all the trimmings, including include turkey, cabbage rolls, salads and a special dessert.
Staff sits down together to the same meal, said cook Donna Fernwalt.
Some of that can be prepared the previous day but the bulk is done on Christmas with Fernwalt arriving by 5:45 a.m. to begin. The same meals will also be prepared for the meals-on-wheels program delivered to those needing that service in the community.
While many patients go home for the day or for the holidays, others have visits from family.
Visiting hours are relaxed to accommodate the increased activity on the ward. About half the hospital’s patients are elderly, most more than 70 years old.
Bernie Balaski is in charge of ensuring patients’ electric beds are in good order and that the hospital stays warm on Christmas.
He mainly toils beneath the hospital in the boiler room, where he will spend Christmas morning checking compressors and other systems. He also takes time to visit patients as he works upstairs.
“You have to have a lot of sense of humour and have it all the time,” he said of working in a hospital setting.
Other employees, such as medical records clerk Margaret MacDonald, spend Christmas Day at home with family because their offices are closed. She said her busiest times lie ahead when she returns to catch up on paperwork that has accumulated during her absence.
“We can’t do that in advance,” she said of the administrative work.
Only a fraction of the hospital staff will work during the holidays but none of the in-patient services are reduced on Christmas, said administrator Denise Geck.
Doctors and administration offices housed in the building are shut down while services are curtailed in mental health, addictions, physiotherapy, occupational therapy and diabetes education.
Most staff take turns working Christmas each year or negotiate different arrangements among themselves. Those working statutory holidays receive additional pay as prescribed by labour laws and collective agreements with unions representing hospital employees.
Far from a peaceful holiday time, Christmas can be hectic.
“You never know when you come to work what you will see,” Hughes said.
Geck said people are busy, in close contact with others, doctor’s offices are closed and emergency services are sometimes shut down in neighbouring communities, so many end up at the Kelvington hospital seeking care. Some are stressed or depressed.
“We see some increase in depression,” Geck said.
People might be facing Christmas alone after the loss of a partner or may be shut in, so local food banks and churches distribute Christmas baskets while a grieving service is offered by local funeral homes.
Sandy Siddons, supervisor of support services, said many retirees fill in on a casual or relief basis and others take turns working Christmas or New Year’s to ensure the same level of service as any other day of the year.
“It’s a 24-7 business,” she said.
Three doctors service the hospital, but this year one will travel to visit family in South Africa.
Dr. Werner Gericke said the doctors negotiate among themselves who will take calls on holidays.
An upbeat mood in the hospital reflects the special day and homemade treats are never far from most work stations, but generally little changes in a hospital.
For those who work Christmas, Hughes called it a family experience among staff, with everyone together trying to make the best of it for themselves and for patients.
“If you can’t be with your family, staff and patients are your family. It’s just a part of being a nurse.”
