Administrators of hospital have tradition of giving cookies to staff

With all the presents under the tree, it’s also a gift to not work on Christmas. However, in some industries it simply can’t be avoided, like the medical industry.

Gail Mikesell and Don Wadle are walking floor-to-floor, department-to-department, giving out cookies.

“It’s a wonderful reaction,” said Wadle, vice-president of Clinical Services. “People are a little surprised to see administrative types showing up on a special holiday.”

With each department they visited, staff members smiled and said thank you with hugs and handshakes. Wadle says that’s his favorite part of this Christmas cookie crusade.

“I appreciated Gail’s hugs with all the staff too, but it was the smiles of the staff,” Wadle said. “This really is a warm place to work.”

Wadle says this has been a tradition for two years. The on-call administrators will deliver the cookies to all staff in all departments to tell them thank you for working on Christmas.

In addition to the hospital staff getting cookies on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, they also get a free meal in the cafeteria, and so did anybody visiting a patient.

While Wadle said the most ideal Christmas for many may not be at the hospital, he says not only will staff take care of your medical needs… they’ll still surround you with family for Christmas.

“The fact that people feel good about working here – you see the ready smiles, and the warmth – that’s how our patients are greeted,” Wadle said. “I feel terrific about that.”

While at the hospital, the staff in the maternity department reported that two babies were born Christmas morning. Both mothers and their new Christmas gifts are doing well.