December 27, 2020
For St. Mary’s Kids, the holiday season is always a special time. People in the community come together to support St. Mary’s Hospital for Children, which has been serving critically ill children and young adults with special needs and children with medically complex conditions for over 150 years with events, fundraisers, toy donations, and more. However, the COVID pandemic has changed things for everyone, and St. Mary’s Kids are certainly no exception.
Because St. Mary’s Kids are often particularly vulnerable to the potential spread of COVID-19, visits, events and in-person gifts were not a part of the holidays in 2020. Of course, for the health care workers on the front lines at St. Mary’s Hospital for Children, this also meant a very different holiday season, both in the workplace and at home. People who regularly enjoyed large family gatherings were instead planning Zoom get-togethers or FaceTime meetings, both for St. Mary’s Kids and for their own holiday celebrations.
In order to make the holiday season more fun and enjoyable despite the difficult circumstances of the pandemic, St. Mary’s Hospital for Children organized a month of special days and events to spread employee cheer and celebration among our patients, residents, staff, and family members throughout the 2020 holiday season.
On Thursday, December 3, St. Mary’s staff marked their pride in the hospital and its commitment to loving, innovative care and advanced therapies for over 150 years with St. Mary’s Pride Day. From scrubs and masks to unique accessories, staff donned all their blue favorites to turn St. Mary’s blue for the day. St. Mary’s Pride Day was followed one day later, Dec. 4, with a Crazy Hat day. For St. Mary’s Kids, unique and creative hats for all of our staff members, from doctors and therapists to office workers and assistants, provided amusement and amazement with a holiday theme.
The cheery themes continued on December 7, with Super Hero Day. We know that health care workers, especially the staff at St. Mary’s Kids, are superheroes on a daily basis. The COVID pandemic has also made this even more clear than ever to everyone in the community. We celebrated our superhero staff members with decorations, costumes, and themed items that highlighted their superpowers and brought joy and true appreciation to St. Mary’s dedicated health workers.
Departments at St. Mary’s also came together for several themed holiday celebration days. On Dec. 8, Department Theme Day, each department developed its own themes for decorations, costumes, and activities, turning the hospital into a collage of unique ideas. One day later, Dec. 9, Any Holiday Day, brought together our diverse staff and patients to mark various holidays and winter celebrations with creative ideas and bright colors.
Finally, we concluded our holiday employee cheer days with Scrabble Day. Each department was challenged to spell out a word together, with each person holding up one letter. The resulting pictures made memorable collages that decorated the halls at St. Mary’s.
Our dedicated staff members bring joy and celebration to children with medically complex conditions throughout the year. You can help to support their amazing work by making a donation to St. Mary’s or attending a virtual fundraiser today.
