For some, working on Christmas is a privilege

While many individuals prefer to spend the holiday season tucked away alongside their families at home, Spokane’s first responders find contentment in serving members of their community, even on Christmas day.

“I’ve worked more holidays than not, but it’s rewarding,” said Jodi Deck, a nurse of 30 years and current employee in the staffing office of Eastern State Hospital. “I can always carve out time for my own holiday traditions and things but being at work on holiday is meaningful because for this season, sometimes we’re the only family that patients have.”

Each holiday season, many nurses and other staff members of Eastern State Hospital volunteer to fill stockings and wrap gifts for patients spending Christmas away from their families.

“When I was on the floor, it was our job to make sure that the stockings got filled in the evening or the night when they were sleeping,” Deck said. “We decorate the ward for the holidays which brightens their spirits and the patient’s themselves help do that.”

Cass Doyle, a charge night nurse in the emergency room at Spokane’s MultiCare Deaconess Hospital, agrees that taking care of patients during the holiday season is a big responsibility of health care workers.

“I knew that I wanted to be in the health care setting since I was 16, so I kind of always knew that I would be working holidays, and that’s just something I would tell my family,” Cass Doyle said. “So, we would celebrate on Christmas Eve or a couple days before. It just is not something that I ever was like, ‘I want this off.’ ”

At Deaconess, many nurses dress in holiday shirts, Santa hats, or red and green scrubs to bring the holiday spirit to patients.

“There’s certain staff that love to work every Christmas so that they can be there for those patients that come in and their families,” Cass Doyle said. “I just think all of us have a calling and we know that in health it is our job to help take care of the community on holidays.”

Sean Doyle, a fire equipment operator at Spokane Fire Department’s Fire Station No. 4 on the edge of Browne’s Addition, also has adapted to spending Christmas away from home.

“My dad was a fireman too, so he would work holidays,” said Sean Doyle, who is married to Cass. “So, it was just something that was always kind of normal for me growing up and my wife is a nurse, so she works some Christmases too.”

This year, Sean Doyle, and his colleagues plan on having a nice dinner together, including rib roast.

Cpl. Anthony Guzzo, of the Spokane Police Department, is also scheduled to work on Christmas this year.

“There’s still things happening that require first responders to go to, and just because Christmas is happening doesn’t necessarily mean we take a day off,” Guzzo said.

Finding nontraditional ways to maintain the meaning of the holiday season has helped Guzzo and colleagues navigate being away from their families.

In past years, Guzzo and his team have eaten their favorite meals together to celebrate Christmas Day.

“I really love the people that I work with, and we all kind of also know in the back of our heads, that we’d rather be at home with our families and be celebrating Christmas with them,” Guzzo said. “But there is something to be said for all of us knowing that we’re all sharing that struggle together.”