Christmas
Mitzvah

Meet some
local volunteers
that work
on Christmas
to let others
spend their
holiday at home.

Mary Fink

M

ary Fink often considers her-
self a good will ambassador.
Sometimes she says a host-
ess better characterizes her
activity. At least that's how she de-
scribes the volunteer work she has been
doing at Beaumont Hospital for the past
12 years. Once a week and every
Christmas, Ms. Fink, who lives about a
mile from the hospital in Royal Oak, as-
sumes her role as a volunteer in the sur-
gical intensive care unit.
"It (Christmas) is not my holiday so
if I can help someone out, I'm happy to
do it," Ms. Fink said. "The family mem-
bers love to have someone there to serve
coffee in the lounge and the nurses are also grateful."
As a volunteer, Ms. Fink is responsible for register-
ing visitors, monitoring their visits and consoling fami-
ly members.
"Family members are sad if a loved one is in intensive
care, especially during the holidays." she said. "If some-

JENNIFER FINER STAFF WRITER

Jeffrey Belkin

0

ver the last 13 years,
Dr. Jeffrey Belkin
has always spent
Christmas doing the
same thing — watching televi-
sion at Providence Hospital in
Southfield. Dr. Belkin, a
Farmington Hills anesthesiolo-
gist, is on call for a 24-hour pe-
riod during Christmas in case
there is a surgical emergency.
Occasionally he has to work.
Most of his time is spent on
call.
"It's not a problem for me to
work," Dr. Belkin said. 'There
is no reason why I cannot fill in
for someone. The holiday is not
meaningful to me but it is for
others. I don't have to work on
Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kip-
pur."
During holidays, like Sun-
days, one of the 15 on-staff
anesthesiologists is on call for
emergencies. Dr. Belkin al-
ways works Christmas. ❑

one is there to talk to, it makes it easier for the family."
Ms. Fink began working at the hospital after she re-
tired as a bookkeeper at a dental supply house.
"To me, it's a pleasure to be at the hospital," Ms. Fink
said. "I enjoy what I do and I'm happy if I can help any-
one. Beaumont is a pleasant place to work and being there
gives me something to do." ❑

Mark and Debbie Bernstein

I

n August, one of Debbie Bern-
stein's co-workers was already
thinking about Christmas. It
was three months ago when Ms.
Bernstein, a nurse at Sinai Hospi-
tal's emergency room, had her first
request to fill in for someone during
the holiday.
Since, she has had a handful of re-
quests from other nurses looking for
someone to fill their shoes on Dec.
24 - 25.
"I've been working Christmas
every year since I graduated nurs-

ing school in 1977," said Ms. Bern-
stein, of Farmington Hills. 'The hol-
iday means nothing to me, so I don't
mind working. It's nice to let some-
one, especially someone with chil-
dren, have the day off. The rest of the
staff appreciates it because they
know ahead of time the staff is going
to be smaller on Christmas so they
are happy to have the extra help."
When Ms. Bernstein was a full
time nurse, working the Christmas
holiday allowed her to take New
Year's off. "Which was more impor-
tant to me," she said.
Currently, she works on a contin-
gent basis, which means she can pick
the days she wants to work. While .
she could technically take both
Christmas and New Year's off, she
does not mind spending Christmas
at the hospital.

"Many of the patients are not es-
pecially enthusiastic about being in
the hospital over Christmas," she
said. "The general attitude of the
staff is they will be home to celebrate
later."
In working previous Christmas
holidays, Ms. Bernstein sees an in-
crease in the number of homeless
and depressed patients in the hos-
pital.
She also finds a lot of people who
want to know why she is working.
She tells them it is not her holiday.
Ms. Bernstein's husband Mark, a
cardiologist, often worjcs Christmas
too. Usually, they try to work differ-
ent shifts so that at least one of them
can be home with their three chil-
dren. Last year she specifically took
the 7 p.m - 7 a.m. shift while her hus-
band worked the following day. ❑