Hope, Joy, Love, Care...  Sharing With a Patient Family

The staff at the Dialysis Unit at Jefferson University Hospital’s Ford Road Campus ended their year exhibiting all that is generous in the human spirit.

In December, a patient who had undergone dialysis there since 1989, and who had recently been hospitalized for several medical conditions, decided to withdraw dialysis and transfer to a hospice program to die in peace. The patient, a single parent who is raising two boys, ages 10 and 13, explained to many of the staff and patients who visited her at the hospice that she had fought so long because of her children, but that she could no longer continue.

A plan was quickly put in place to help this family enjoy the Holiday Season 1999 together. Patients and staff of the Dialysis Program started a collection and, within three days, they had raised over $600. As a result each child received: A GameBoy (which required a shopping trip to Atlantic City, since none could be found in Philadelphia), a coat, hat, gloves, two outfits, and a CD. 

With the remaining money, a CD player was purchased along with cartridges for a Play Station. A new Play Station was donated by a generous patient.

Two dialysis technicians delivered the wrapped presents, food and a decorated Christmas tree to the happy children and smiling mother on a Sunday afternoon in mid-December. This patient family enjoyed a very special holiday together thanks to the generosity of Jefferson’s Dialysis Program patients and staff – some of the very special people who work in our midst.

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