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It’s not the way the Johnson-Walker family planned to spend their Christmas Day – in the Emergency Department with their six-year-old daughter Matilda.
On December 25, 2010, Gala Johnson, her husband Scott Walker and their children Alex and Matilda took a walk in High Park, which the family does often after brunch. But their Christmas Day took an unexpected turn for the worse when Matilda fell and got a cut above her right eyebrow exposing part of her skull with a wound that was bleeding heavily.
The Bloor West Village family already had a relationship with St. Joseph’s Health Centre for previous treatments of Alex’s broken arm and Scott had his appendix removed. Experiences that all left a positive impression on them. So when it came time to make a quick decision on where to take Matilda they felt confident in going to the Emergency Department at St. Joe’s.
“St. Joe’s was the closest hospital and we knew you had a paediatric area,” said mom Gala. “If we’d had a negative experience with St. Joe’s before maybe we’d have thought twice, but we had good previous experiences with St. Joe’s.”
They did not have a long wait in the Emergency Department, so the triage system of treating patients worked well and they were quickly transferred to the paediatric department. A nurse assessed Matilda and reassured her parents it was better than it looked as there was no concussion and there was nothing “stuck” in the part of Matilda’s skull that was exposed. “The nurse wasn’t freaking out. She was sitting with me. I had the attention of someone who knew what was going on,” said Gala.
Then a paediatric doctor cleaned the wound and started the stitches with the aid of a topical anesthetic, but Matilda did not take well to the notion of a needle coming towards her face and wouldn’t sit still. She was transferred so she could receive an IV and anesthetic. The fact Matilda was their second child helped to prepare them for the fact Matilda might resist receiving the IV, so Gala was thankful she could stay to help her daughter during treatment.
“All the staff at St. Joe’s helped make things as good as possible. We think everyone did an excellent job.” said Gala. “And because of Matilda’s positive experience, she was able to sit still while having her stitches removed (during follow-up care) and has no lingering concerns about doctors, nurses or IVs.”
And Santa wasn’t the only one who got cookies left for him on Christmas. Matilda and her family baked cookies for the Health Centre’s staff as a way to say thank you for the care she received on Christmas Day.