Why doctors and nurses champion a decades-old tradition of spending Christmas at Parkridge Valley Child and Adolescent Campus

At Parkridge Valley Child and Adolescent Campus, many doctors, nurses and other faculty forfeit spending Christmas at home with their families.

Instead, they volunteer to work a shift at the hospital, putting on activities to give children a joy-filled holiday, reminiscent of what they’d experience out in the community.

The mental health professional lead, Christy Belew, has worked at the hospital for 11 years, and she said she recently told her family they won’t see her on Christmas.

“Since I started working here, I fell in love with being here with the children, and I just told my family, ‘We’re gonna have to adjust, and we’ll do Christmas after Christmas,'” she said in an interview.

At the hospital, Belew said children always ask her if she’ll be at Parkridge for Christmas.

“I’m here bright and early and love doing it,” she said.

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Once Thanksgiving comes, the faculty members gear up toward Christmas, commencing different programs for the kids.

For example, Elf on the Shelf is one program for the little kids, she said. Beginning on Thanksgiving night, elves appear throughout the units each night until Christmas Eve.

“They cannot do what the elves in the communities do,” she said, “and so we have to be creative in the setting that we’re in, but still try to make it really fun for the kids and give them exposure to something that they would be exposed to in the community as well.”

Teenagers in the facility may partake in Christmas crafts and go look at Christmas lights in the community each week.

Cookies with Santa is another activity, in which an administrator at another Parkridge hospital dresses up as Santa Claus, Belew said. Each child, dressed in Christmas pajamas, visits him with their group, gives him a letter, discusses desires for Christmas and takes a picture.

Family traditions are remembered by the staff, and children patients receive a gift on Christmas Eve like in some households, Belew said. Usually, they are given a fuzzy blanket with their name embroidered on it, made by churches and other groups.

With the help of staff and community sponsors, Parkridge Valley Child and Adolescent Campus is able to provide presents for all of its patients, Belew said. Most of the gifts and activities are funded by Parkridge employees across the hospital system.

Belew said she tells the children Santa does not have federal patient privacy law privileges, so presents are not delivered directly.

“We had the ability to set the gifts up in the hallways and outside the unit, so that when the kids wake up, it is truly like waking up and going out and seeing their presents,” she said. “Just like they would if they were at home or in the community.”

IMPORTANCE

Most of the children in the hospital are there for behavioral reasons, Belew said. They may be struggling in school or in the community and in need of additional support and help, prompting their stay.

“Sometimes it’s a medication change, but sometimes it’s just needing a little bit more support from some people who know what they’re going through and can help them in a safe place,” she said.

The hospital engages in prudent parenting with one of its contracts, Belew said.

“It means that we expose the kids in this hospital, residential setting as much as possible to what they would be exposed to in the community,” she said.

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While the children are learning new things or receiving the help they need, the hospital faculty wants to give them an opportunity to experience as many experiences akin to those they would have elsewhere, Belew said.

Holidays are hard for everyone, but especially for children who are away from family, she said. Children who are in a hospital have to be away from their own beds and miss their family traditions at home.

“I think it’s just a time where children experience the loss of being at home so much more when they’re in this type of setting, and we want to do everything we can to make that easier for them,” she said.

Some days, faculty will put on family-style meals in the hospital’s unit, Belew said. Tables are decorated and food is put out so the staff can either serve the children or they can serve themselves while they all eat together.

LEGACY

Dr. Susan McGuire, a children’s psychology psychiatrist, began the tradition of giving Christmas to the residential patients decades ago, Belew said.

Now, each year, there are doctors, nurses and staff who want to provide Christmas for the hospitalized children.

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Dr. Krikor Jansezian, the CEO of Parkridge Valley Hospital, said in an emailed statement that the facility’s Christmas effort embody its commitment to caring for every patient with compassion and kindness.

“We are thankful for the opportunity to serve these children in a special and kind way during the holiday season,” he said. “Our goal is to make sure every child is recognized in their own special way and celebrated on this very important holiday.”

Employees spending their holiday at Parkridge say the hospital system is a great place to work, Belew said. While it is not an easy job, the work they do is valuable.

“You really have to want to work here to work here,” she said. “We’re a hospital, so we are open 365 days a year, so somebody has to work Christmas, and for people to volunteer to work Christmas just really shows how much fun it is, I think, but also how much we care about the kids.”

Contact Leah Hunter at lhunter@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6673.