Caring on Christmas: How health care, emergency workers handle holiday shifts

Patrick Merkel knows that when someone calls the Allegheny County 911 center on Christmas, they might be experiencing the worst day of their life.

Merkel is just one member of the team on the front lines on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. With up to 70 people working each shift and three shifts per day, he’s part of the vital link that sends first responders rushing to help those in need.

Likewise, emergency department nurse Nicole Komenda and the staff at Independence Health System’s Frick Hospital in Mt. Pleasant are there for patients during stressful and sad moments that can extend through the Christmas season.

The 911 center in Moon and the emergency room at Frick are just a few pieces in the network of health care and emergency workers who look out for Western Pennsylvanians in distress over the holidays.

There are 32 hospitals in Allegheny and five in Westmoreland, each with a rotating staff of doctors, nurses and specialists tasked with guiding patients, their friends and families through crisis, and, on the best days, the joy of childbirth.

“Families (are) sometimes distraught that their loved one is not home to be with them. You just have to try to make the best of it for them,” said Tina Baker, a nursing supervisor at Independence Health System’s West­moreland Hospital in Greensburg. “It’s a temporary situation, and we’ll care for them and get them back to you as soon as they’re well enough to do that. A lot of times, it’s just talking families through that.”

Filling the gap

When their jobs pull them away from home on the holiday, critical care staff say co-workers and patients help to fill the gap.

“Someone has to (work), and to be there with your work family and spend the time with people you enjoy, even if it can’t be your immediate family, that always makes it better,” Komenda said. “Most people are appreciative that you are there on the holidays.”

The teams switch work shifts and carry in festive food to go with Secret Santa exchanges that make the day special, even if they’re busy working.

“You have your work family and your family, and we work together so that maybe our holiday is Christmas Eve and somebody else’s is Christmas Day,” she said. “We switch so that we can be with our family. Even though you are at work, there’s usually a lighter mood to it.”

At the 911 center, Merkel is used to spending holiday time with his co-workers — some of whom, he says, are clocking in more work hours than family time.

“Getting to help people on the holidays is definitely different than a normal day,” he said. “I feel like it’s a little bit more rewarding. It does bring you a little joy to be able to send them the help they need.”

Call volumes aren’t usually as heavy on Christmas, but they tend to pick up around dinnertime, “once everybody starts turning the heat on and cooking Christmas dinner, and the fire calls start coming in,” Merkel said.

Helping for the holidays

Baker recalls the humbling experience of working Christmases at the Hempfield Manor nursing home, where she got her start in health care as a nurse’s aide.

“You have these mostly elderly people who are away from their families, in a foreign place, spending Christmas, sometimes for the first time, alone,” Baker said. “I can go home at the end of the day, (but) these residents cannot.”

Baker said she and her fellow nurses would provide a gift for every resident at the foot of their bed on Christmas morning, even if they didn’t have relatives nearby to check in on them.

“Often, the staff themselves would fill in the gap,” she said. “If there was someone who didn’t have family who could do that for them, we would kind of pick up the slack, and make sure they could do that for Christmas.”

As a nurse at Westmoreland Hospital, Baker says there’s a lot of camaraderie among staff when working a holiday shift. Some families go above and beyond to show their appreciation, she said — many will bring in Christmas cookie trays to leave for the staff members.

“(It’s like), ‘Hey, we gave up our holiday with our family to be here, so let’s try to make the best of it for our patients,’” she said. “You’ll see a lot more holiday attire, Christmas sweaters, Christmas scrubs, and you’ll see people with the Santa hats and the light-up Christmas necklaces.”

Cindy Panigal, who works as a concierge at Westmoreland Hospital, is often the first and last person visitors see when they come to the hospital.

“These families coming in to visit, they are coming in with piping hot plates and little side dishes and baskets to take up to their loved ones. And they share with you,” she said “It’s just an incredible place to be. Many of them share their recipes with me. They’ll come back a few days later, and they’ll have this wonderful biscotti recipe, and this special cake that Grandma made.”

She feels honored to be able to help families who find themselves in the hospital during Christmas.

“There’s been just so many families that really have touched me,” she said. “I did have one woman — it was sad, her husband had a terminal illness and he passed over the holiday season. She even still reaches out and keeps in touch. There’s sadness there, too, but there’s always the opportunity for friendship or memories.”

At the Allegheny County 911 center, Christmas can also be a reminder for staff of how they are appreciated by the community, staff member Crystal Revis said.

“Every week or every day, somebody we interact with is sending in cookies and cupcakes,” she said. “That just makes the whole place a lot nicer. From people from the MedEvac, to tow truck drivers, to everybody we interact with, they’re always sending something here to say thank you around the holidays.”

A holiday feast

Holiday preparations start long before Dec. 24 at AHN Allegheny Valley Hospital in Harrison, according to Doug Johnston, vice president of operations. Members of the hospital’s food services team try to make the hospital feel like home all month long.

“Just because it’s on Dec. 18 doesn’t mean it’s not the holiday season,” Johnston said. “We do everything we can to spruce it up for our family members. … With the patients feeling down, we’ve got to up our game.”

Weekly rounding visits with festive treats throughout the month help to spread cheer. In the endoscopy center, staff even set up and move around an Elf on the Shelf.

This year the hospital planned a potluck dinner for employees, according to Rob Lausberg, director of food services. On Christmas Day, the team has planned for a special holiday meal: a brie, cranberry and apple stuffed chicken breast and a special peppermint cheesecake.

“We do try to make things special for the employees and the patients alike,” he said.

On Christmas, any patients staying overnight receive white turtledove ceramic ornaments from the nursing team. A symbol of peace, hope and healing, Johnston said, they serve as a small gift during a difficult time.

An extra-special gift

Not every hospital visit over the holidays is a sad moment. For some, it’s a celebration — and a birthday.

Dr. Randi Turkewitz and Dr. Lisa Hildenbrand are OB-GYNs at Westmoreland Hospital. They’ve delivered their share of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day babies.

Staying engaged with people and keeping spirits high on Christmas are a must, they agreed.

“It’s a place where for the most part we are in a very exciting, happy time in people’s lives, and the nurses are wonderful,” Hildenbrand said. “A holiday is a very special time, and they want to make it even more special for the birth of their child.”

Neither of them know in advance what the Christmas shift will be like — but that’s part of being an OB-GYN.

“I kind of go into it kind of open-minded, as far as what to expect,” she said. “You could have no one in labor, or you could have four people walk in all at the same time. You don’t know what to anticipate that day. Sometimes it can get quite fun and dicey.”

Turkewitz recalled that last year she opened presents with her family at home before coming to work. When it was her turn to be on duty, she helped to deliver a baby.

Holiday shifts sometimes mean family members of health care workers change their Christmas traditions, Hildenbrand said.

“It’s not just the health care workers but their families who learn to be flexible when celebrations happen,” she said. “Sometimes families will wait to open gifts until their loved ones come home. For all health care workers, it’s important that that’s recognized — that their families are giving in such a way.”

Turkewitz scheduled her holiday celebrations a few years ago to Dec. 23 to accommodate her Christmas shift.

“My son was young enough to not know any better,” she joked.