Hospital employees continue work on front lines during holiday season

Dec. 23—LA GRANDE — While most families are sitting by the fire exchanging gifts on Christmas morning, some of the most important jobs still need to be done.

A select group of employees at Grande Ronde Hospital keep the hospital up and running during the holidays, making sure essential jobs are still in operation in case of emergency. While it may not always be ideal to work on the holidays, local hospital workers commit to keeping the community safe.

"Most people that work the holidays have a real giving spirit, I think," said Karen Schatzlein, a medical technologist in the Grande Ronde Hospital lab. "It's a great team effort, even between the lab and the nurses and the doctors."

Around this time of year, some departments at Grande Ronde Hospital use a rotating schedule for who works on the holidays, while some rely on volunteers. Schatzlein has worked at the hospital for more than four years and has worked every Christmas.

Having worked in the medical field since 1987, she stated that hospital employees understand the spectrum of reasons why patients might be in the hospital on Christmas Day — from mothers in labor to emergency situations.

"We're here as a team to help these guys and help relieve some of their stress the best that we can and hopefully get them back home to their families," Schatzlein said.

In the laundry services department, holiday work schedules are planned ahead of time. However, employees work together to make the best of the situation for each other. Kim Clark, a laundry services employee who has been at Grande Ronde Hospital for 12 years, volunteered this year to take the shift of someone who worked last Christmas.

"We try to give the people with small kids time to spend with their children," Clark said. "Everybody is willing to work with each other in that respect."

Robin Talley, a phlebotomist in the hospital lab, volunteered to work on the holiday for the first time in her four years at the hospital so another employee could enjoy the holidays during her child's first Christmas.

"I thought that since I don't have kids, I'd pick up the shift and work," Talley said.

According to Talley, employees who work together on holidays bond over the shared experience — she referred to this year's group as "the dream team."

Every department at the hospital differs, as some work on call throughout the holidays. This is the case for Fritz Flowers, a biomedical technician who has worked at Grande Ronde Hospital for five years.

"We all take turns and rotate," Flowers said of the technical services department. "On holidays we usually have a reduced staff, but we still have to be prepared for everything, just like any other day."

Biomedical technicians provide preventative maintenance on all hospital equipment throughout the building and at the hospital's clinics. The staff rotates who is on call every weekend and holiday throughout the year, which Flowers says is part of a bigger, collective cause.

"We're all here for the same reason, it doesn't matter what department," he said.

Flowers noted that working on holidays and providing the same quality service day in and day out is an essential part of working in a hospital.

"Everybody has the same end goal," Flowers said. "We have some great people here and amazing community support."

For hospital workers across the country, the pandemic has created unprecedented times. After a long year, the tireless efforts of those at Grande Ronde Hospital persist into the end of 2021 with bright hopes for 2022.

"People get sick and you can't predict that, so we all have to be here to help them medically and to make sure that they can get the best treatment possible," Schatzlein said. "We all understand that, the ones who have to work. It's part of our job and it's part of our focus."