Adorned in Christmas trees, baubles and stars, the Luxembourg City hospital centre (CHL) has a much more homely atmosphere during the festive season. The staff like to mark the holidays by organising special surprises for their patients, says Elena, a nurse in the neurosurgery department:
“We try to make it perfect for our patients so they forget their hospitalisation, with a bit of Christmas magic in our services, using decorations, or we sing carols ourselves.”
Leo is one of the patients spending Christmas in hospital this year, following a serious accident with his bicycyle. But he has not let his situation bring him down, and he has already made plans for the big day.
“They have a good menu here on Christmas Day, and I will also be able to visit one of my friends, a patient in the cardiology departments. At 5pm they also hold a lovely Christmas mass in the hospital chapel.”
Beatrice, who broke her hip a few days ago, is having a quiet day of festivities in hospital, as she does not dare to go home in her present state.
“Here I have a super comfortable air mattress which I don’t have at home. I get help with bathing. So I am really better off on the ward than at home, and I’m glad I can spend some days here.”
Working over Christmas is not a new phenomenon for Orlane, who has spent the last 13 years working as a nurse in the traumatology and vascular surgery department. In all of those 13 years, she has only celebrated one Christmas at home:
“It means I have to reorganise things for my time off work. So I often sleep a lot less in order to make the most of the festive season with my family. Otherwise it also just means reorganising everything, but the main thing is we are there for our patients.”
If the hospital staff have any time left over after completing all their tasks, they are able to celebrate together as a team.
