Working Christmas Day

By Victoria Schlintz

It was an unusually quiet day in the emergency room on December twenty-fifth. Quiet, that is, except for the nurses who were standing around the nurses' stationgrumbl[t1] ingabout having to work Christmas Day.

I wastriage [t2] nurse that day and had just been out to the waiting room to clean up. Since there were no patients waiting to be seen at the time, I came back to the nurses' station for a cup of hotcider[t3] from thecrockpot[t4] someone had brought in for Christmas. Just then an admitting clerk came back and told me I had five patients waiting to beevaluate[t5] d.

Iwhine[t6] d, "Five, how did Iget five; I was just out there and no one was in the waiting room."

"Well, there are five signed in." So I wentstraight out[t7] and called the first name.

Five bodies showed up at my triage desk, a palepetite[t8] woman and four small children in somewhatrumple[t9] dclothing.

"Are you all sick?" I askedsuspiciously[t10] .

"Yes," she said weakly, and lowered her head.

"Okay," I replied, unconvinced, "who's first?" One by one they sat down, and I asked the usualpreliminary[t11] questions. When it came to descriptions of their presenting problems, things got a littlevague[t12] . Two of the children had headaches, but the headaches weren't accompanied by the normal body language of holding the head or trying to keep it still orsquint[t13] ingorgrimac[t14] ing. Two children hadearaches, but only one could tell me which ear was affected. The mother complained of a cough, but seemed to work to produce it.

Something was wrong with the picture. Our hospital policy, however, was not to turn away any patient, so we would see them. When I explained to the mother that it might be a little while before a doctor saw her because, even though the waiting room was empty, ambulances had brought in several, more critical patients, in the back, she responded, "Take your time,[t15] it's warm in here." She turned and, with a smile, guided herbrood[t16] into the waiting room.

On ahunch (call it nursing judgment), I checked thechart after the admitting clerk had finishedregister[t17] ingthe family. No address - they were homeless. The waiting room was warm.

I looked out at the familyhuddle[t18] dby the Christmas tree. The littlest one was pointing at the television and exclaiming something to her mother. The oldest one was looking at herreflection[t19] in anornament[t20] on the Christmas tree.

I went back to the nurses station and mentioned we had a homeless family in the waiting room - a mother and four children between four and ten years of age. The nurses, grumbling about working Christmas, turned tocompassion[t21] for a family just trying to get warm on Christmas. The team went into action, much as we do when there's a medical emergency. But this one was a Christmas emergency.

We were all offered a free meal in the hospital cafeteria on Christmas Day, so we claimed that meal and prepared abanquet[t22] for our Christmas guests.

We needed presents. We put together oranges and apples in a basket one of ourvendor[t23] s had brought the department for Christmas. We made littlegoodie[t24] bags ofsticker[t25] swe borrowed from the X-ray department, candy that one of the doctors had brought the nurses,crayon[t26] sthe hospital had from a recent coloring contest, nurse bear buttons the hospital had given the nurses at annual training day and littlefuzzy[t27] bears that nursesclipped onto[t28] theirstethoscope[t29] s.We also found amug,[t30] a package ofpowdered cocoa[t31] , and a few otherodds and ends[t32] .We pulled ribbon andwrapping paper[t33] andbells off the department's decorations that we had all contributed to[t34] . As seriously as we met physical needs of the patients that

came to us that day, our team worked to meet the needs, andexceed the

expectations[t35] , of a family who just wanted to be warm on Christmas Day.

We took turns joining the Christmas party in the waiting room. Each nurse took his or herlunchbreak[t36] withthe family, choosing to spend their "off duty" time with these people whose laughter and delightful chatter became quitecontagious[t37] .

When it was my turn, I sat with them at the little banquet table we had created in the waiting room. We talked for a while about dreams. The four children were telling me about what they would like to be when they grow up. The six-year-old started the conversation. "I want to be a nurse and help people," she declared.

After the four children had shared their dreams, I looked at the Mom. She smiled and said, "I just want my family to be safe, warm and content - just like they are right now."

The "party" lasted most of theshift[t38] , before we were able tolocate a shelter that would take the family in on Christmas Day. The mother had asked that theircharts be pulled, so these patients were not seen that day in the emergency department. But they were treated.

As they walked to the door to leave, the four-year-old came running back, gave me ahug and whispered, "Thanks for being our angels today." As she ran back to join her family, they all waved one more time before the door closed. I turned around slowly to get back to work, a little embarrassed for the tears in my eyes.

There stood a group of mycoworker[t39] s, one witha box of tissues[t40] , which she passed around to each nurse who worked a Christmas Day she will never forget.