Just an Idea......

I’m sure a lot of you have your favorite charities, organizations you work with, Church’s, Civic groups, etc. on a regular basis, and maybe even some extra things you do at Christmas time, …. It came to me last night in the middle of the night.........

Seldom thought of, the needs of the families who will be sitting in a hospital waiting room on Christmas Eve and Christmas day.

I want to share this with you because if you are looking for ideas to help someone out during the Christmas season, this is something anyone can do.

In our hospital the ICU waiting room is separate from all the others and kept pretty much private… Last year on Christmas Eve when the family was there, they said “some guy” came in, and gave everyone a big candy cane and gave the girls all a little fuzzy throw. He simply said, “I’m sorry you have to be here but I hope you have a blessed Christmas”. And he left. All of them said it meant so much…. The fact that this stranger thought enough to pay a visit to try and brighten a sad moment in another stranger’s life, was very comforting and very much appreciated.

I went to town today and purchased some small wooden baskets…then I picked out little soft stuffed fuzzy puppy dogs, some individual packets of Kleenex, a tube of chap stick, travel size hand sanitizers, hand lotions, mouth wash, and tiny tooth brushes with cleaning gel in them. Also little notebooks and pens, a pack of gum, plus some individually wrapped miniature chocolates, a small container of salty crackers, and a couple of little candy canes and 2 of the little Clementine oranges to fill each basket. Things that a family could share and may need, and could help get them by for a few days away from home.

The “average” ICU patient load is about 4 in our hospital on any given day. There was only one other family besides ours in there last year on Christmas Eve, and I would be surprised if there is any more than that this year… The baskets and all the stuff in them was not cost prohibitive. I will call ahead of time and ask how many families are there to be sure I have enough. If more is needed I’ll get them, but I’m thinking this will fill the need since it’s only ICU I’m doing it for. I’ll take them up on the 23^rd and check again on Christmas Eve for any new arrivals, then leave the extras.

Your hospitals may be larger, the emergency and ICU waiting rooms may be all in one, and if so, there are a lot of less expensive things you could do. It’s just an idea I wanted to share because often, with everything going on this time of year it’s easy to forget what some others might be going through, especially the families of critical ill patients. It’s the season of giving and even just a little candy cane can mean so much more…..