By Róise Collins
With Christmas just one day away many of us are getting ready to wind down and switch off.
We look forward to clocking out of work, swapping our morning cereal for a sneaky selection box and browsing the TV guide for our favourite festive films.
While the world slows down to celebrate, the staff at Letterkenny University Hospital quietly carry on, tending to patients, responding to emergencies, and offering care to those who need it most.
Mary McBride is the operational nurse manager and assistant director of nursing at LUH.
A native of Mayo, Mary has been working in Letterkenny since 1999, and during this time she has worked her fair share of Christmases.
In recent years she has witnessed big changes in regards to the amount of patients they are seeing throughout the winter months, which means more staff are required to work Christmas day than ever before.
“I have worked many Christmases and as they say, I’ve seen the changes over the years.
“In some cases wards would have been closed coming up to Christmas because the capacity wouldn’t be required, whereas nowadays, that’s not even a consideration. It’s busy all the time.
”At the moment, our hospital is very, very busy with respiratory illnesses. So the chances of reducing staff any more than a weekend staff would be very difficult,” she said.
Mary praised the staff working over the holidays for their great team spirit.
“They try to make a special effort on Christmas morning for breakfast.
“They put a plan in place, each of them might take something in for a cooked breakfast in the morning and heat it up in the microwave and they try to spend as much time together when it’s possible.
“Because we are all there in the one boat and we are all grateful that we are well enough to come in and do our work and provide that care for people that are not able to be at home,” she said.
Mary has a very special role of keeping the staffs spirits high and showing her appreciation for their hard work and dedication.
“I will be wandering around to every ward and supporting them and mingling with them and thanking them for the hard work that they have done throughout the year and appreciating their being able to work,” she said.
The staff also do everything they can to make the day extra special for their patients, from sparkly earrings and festive themed tunics to being there to hold the hand of someone spending the holiday alone.
“Nurses are so mindful of the fact that they are away from their families on that morning and if there’s patients that haven’t got family close by or whatever, they rally around them and give them the best Christmas that they can have.
‘It’s lovely to see’
During the holidays many people volunteer their time to the hospital, including celebrities who come in to visit patients on Christmas Day.
Mary spoke of a very special visit from the cast of Mrs Brown’s Boys in recent years. The patients were delighted to see Buster roaming the wards.
“One old lady came running towards him and gave him a big hug.
“What it did for that lady that day was amazing and just lovely to see,” she said.
Midwife Orla Foley is one of the many staff who will be working this Christmas Day.
She will also be working on Christmas Eve and St Stephen’s Day.
Orla explained how every year the staff on the maternity unit rotates, and this year it is her turn to work
“It’s also nice to give the midwives who have young families time off at Christmas to celebrate Santa Claus,” she said.
“Any of the girls working Christmas, we just enjoy it. We pull together and we are there for the patients and the babies.
Special
“We have some midwives as well who are from outside Ireland, so we make Christmas special for them as well while we’re working.”
Orla herself has worked many years abroad in both England and Hong Kong, so she knows all too well the feeling of being away from friends and family during the holidays.
Despite there being no elective workload on the labour ward over Christmas, it is not necessarily quieter, Orla explained.
“The babies may decide to arrive early and surprise their parents or the pregnant women may have some concerns that they need to be investigated in our maternity unit over Christmas.
“But much of the early morning work is about getting the mothers and babies ready for discharge as they want to be home for Christmas.”
For those families who won’t make it home for Christmas, the staff make sure their stay is extra special by decorating the baby’s cot and ensuring that new mums get a delicious Christmas dinner.
They will also take a photo of the families in front of the Christmas tree when they are going home as a special keepsake.
Orla shared some advice with those expecting in the coming days or weeks.
“Any mothers and dads that are expecting now around Christmas, I tell them to relax and not stress the small stuff and have their bags packed and ready to come and then wait for this very special event, becoming a family together.”
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