Nurses Step Up to Fill Emergency Gift Lists For 66 Senior Citizens In Need

Cover photo: Dispatch.com

In a heartwarming display of community spirit, the nursing staff at Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center's East Hospital stepped up to fulfill an urgent need for holiday gifts for local seniors. The story unfolded when Louise Griffiths, the nursing program manager of magnet and nursing quality, learned of an emergency situation with a local gift drive.

The Besa Community, Inc. WISH holiday gift drive, an annual initiative aimed at providing gifts to seniors in Central Ohio, faced an unexpected challenge this year. Despite careful planning that began in June to provide gifts for 2,000 seniors, 66 fixed-income seniors were suddenly placed on an emergency list, leaving the Besa team scrambling to find replacements.

An Almost Missed Opportunity

Initially, the East Hospital Nursing Leadership Council thought they had missed the opportunity to contribute. However, when Aaron Brown, Besa's volunteer experience coordinator, reached out with an urgent request, the nursing team quickly mobilized.

Griffiths recounted Brown's appeal: "He came back to us and said, 'Hey, we have this emergency wish list which is the seniors that were adopted and for whatever reason, people didn't follow it through on the donation. Would you be interested? In the short turnaround time, would you guys be able to help us out with that?'"

The response from the staff was immediate and enthusiastic. "Our staff embraced it totally," Griffiths added.

Shannon Badertscher, associate director of nursing for perioperative services at Ohio State's East Hospital, shared how the initiative spread beyond the immediate team:

"It really brought the team together as a whole. Partially because we work at East, we know that we're very community-based. We are in a socioeconomically depressed area, and our team is always looking for things like this to jump in and help with anyways."

The spirit of giving extended to Badertscher's family and even her son's high school lacrosse team. They gathered at her home to wrap gifts, adding personal touches like handwritten notes.

Badertscher reflected on the experience: "It was a really great thing, especially at this time of the year to break it out, to talk to your family, to talk to those people that give us a really good perspective to realize how blessed we are in our daily lives."

Helping Seniors in Need

What made this experience particularly meaningful was the focus on often-overlooked recipients. "You see the toy drives. You see all this stuff around Christmas, but nobody really thinks of the senior citizens. These are senior citizens throughout Columbus," Badertscher noted.

In the end, the nursing staff, including both nurses and administrators, provided all 66 of the last-minute gifts needed. It was a testament to the compassion and community spirit that defines the nursing profession.

As Badertscher summed it up, "It was really a humbling experience." For the nurses at Wexner Medical Center, it was a powerful reminder of why they chose their profession – to care for and support their community, both inside and outside the hospital walls.