[00:03.78]It was unusually quiet in the emergency room on December 25.
[00:08.47]I was triage nurse that day.
[00:11.19]I didn’t think there would be any patients, sighing about having to work on Christmas.
[00:15.65]Just then five bodies showed up at my desk, a pale woman and four small children.
[00:21.32]“Are you all sick?” I asked suspiciously.
[00:24.69]“Yes,” she said weakly and lowered her head.
[00:28.50]But when it came to descriptions of their presenting problems, things got a little vague.
[00:33.73]Two of the children had headaches,
[00:36.13]but the headaches weren’t accompanied by the normal body language of holding the head or trying to keep it still.
[00:41.79]Two children had earaches, but only one could tell me which ear was affected.
[00:46.47]The mother complained of a cough but seemed to work to produce it.
[00:51.48]Something was wrong, but I didn’t say anything but explained that it might be a little while before a doctor saw her.
[00:57.69]She responded, “Take your time; it’s warm in here.”
[01:01.71]On a hunch, I checked the chart after the admitting clerk had finished registering the family.
[01:06.72]No address—they were homeless. The waiting room was warm.
[01:11.84]I looked out at the family huddled by the Christmas tree.
[01:14.89]The littlest one was pointing at the television and exclaiming something to her mother.
[01:19.46]The oldest one was looking at an ornament on the Christmas tree.
[01:22.73]I went back to the nurses’ station and mentioned we had a homeless family in the waiting room.
[01:27.74]The nurses, grumbling about working Christmas, turned to compassion for a family just trying to get warm on Christmas.
[01:35.36]The team went into action, much as we do when there’s a medical emergency.
[01:40.26]But this one was a Christmas emergency.
[01:43.64]We were all offered a free meal in the hospital cafeteria on Christmas Day,
[01:48.11]so we claimed that meal and prepared a banquet for our Christmas guests.
[01:52.24]We needed presents. We put together oranges and apples in a basket.
[01:57.14]We collected from different departments candies, crayons and other things available that could be presents.
[02:03.48]As seriously as we met the physical needs of the patients that came to us that day,
[02:08.29]our team worked to meet the needs, and exceed the expectations, of a family who just wanted to be warm on Christmas Day.
[02:16.49]Later, as the family walked to the door to leave, the four-year-old came running back, gave me a hug and whispered,
[02:23.60]“Thanks for being our angels today.”
