The true meaning of Christmas

I’ve worked on Christmas Day for 28 of the last 29 years. It’s always felt like the right thing to do. I like Christmas too. I dress up in a Christmas coat and do house visits to patients I know will be largely on their own that day. They might have carers come in, but often those carers don’t have much time to spend with them. Doing a leg dressing gives you the chance to have a decent chat with someone and provide that human contact.
 
Inevitably, on Christmas Eve, we have a huge influx of people added to our caseload as they’re discharged from hospital in time for the festivities. That can be quite stressful, because no matter how well you plan discharges, there always seem to be some issues. Either a drug chart will be missing, or the patient has left hospital without the right medication and it’s a struggle to get it sorted.
 
So, there’s a lot of problem solving over the Christmas period. You have to think on your feet and be flexible, which is what district nurses do best. 

Perhaps the hardest but nicest thing about working on Christmas Day is tending to the needs of palliative care patients whose final wish is to die at home. It can be heart-breaking, not so much for that person, as we hope to have given them a good death, but for their families, who then associate that day with the death of their loved one.

Working at Christmas can be challenging, but also lovely

But it can also be a very beautiful time. Seeing families together, everyone sitting around their relative chatting, knowing that, even though they may not be responsive, that person will die surrounded by the people they love. It’s a privilege to be a part of enabling that to happen.
 
As a district nurse at Christmas, I do a lot of reflecting, often in my car driving between patients. That’s my time to digest everything. I try not to take that emotion home, it doesn’t seem right. 

So, working at Christmas can be challenging, but also lovely. I guess, if you didn’t love what you do, you wouldn’t do it and I just think we, as district nurses, have the gift of being able to make life better for somebody, even for the briefest of moments. 

There’s nothing quite like seeing a lonely older person’s face light up when you take them a treat of chocolate or cake that day. That for me, is what Christmas is about.