Working on Holidays

I was at the receiving end of a comment recently, which was clearly intended to belittle, from an unlikely source… a parent of a sick child in the hospital… the remark was this “Who are you… you’re not important, you’re here working on a holiday”. In my nearly 30-year career, I can honestly say, that was a first. The world of healthcare is not a 9a-5p, Monday-Friday job… hospitals do not close down for summer vacation, snow storms, weekends, or holidays… they are always “open for business”. Nursing is a 24/7/365 job. In fact, during any type of disaster, emergency, or significant weather condition, nurses are considered “essential personnel” and are (strongly) advised to report for duty. While most others are warned to “stay off the roads” during a State of Emergency, we pack overnight bags in anticipation… and when the time comes, we search for an open stretcher in a quiet corner and (try to) sleep so we can work the next day in case others cannot make it in for their shift.

Nursing is a profession of dedicated service to the community in which it serves, just like police officers, EMTs, and firemen/women; and it’s not just nurses that keep a hospital running smoothly… it’s also the Doctors and Advanced Practice Nurses, Patient Care Techs, Respiratory Therapists, Security, Housekeeping, Food & Nutrition, etc. We all know the expectations going into our roles. I have worked many, many holidays in my long career…and yes, I still do. I worked on Christmas Day last year, and I will most likely need to do it again this year. I accept it, and I am grateful that I have a job that I love, with people that I have grown to love. We all have families that we would like to celebrate the holidays with… but if we can’t, we make the best of it; we post a sign in the staff lounge for a pot luck feast, and we all contribute to the festivities… we find ways to laugh through it, and we reschedule the time that we can spend with our own family so that we can take care of yours. Working on a holiday is not a measure of importance or title… it is just something that we know we must do to care for those who need us.

I wish that I was able to say what I was thinking to this parent, but I bit my tongue; I am in a position that requires me to de-escalate situations, rather than speak my mind. But I do wish that I would have pointed out that those he attempted to minimize (it was not just me), were there (on a holiday) taking care of his child… and that is not unimportant to us, and it shouldn’t be to him either.