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Celebrating ‘Gifts’

December 22, 2022
by Terry M. Murphy, FACHE
Bayhealth President and CEO

This is the time of year we focus on the giving season.  We spend great time and attention to selecting the perfect item for the people we love – ensuring it is wrapped in beautiful paper and adorned with a big bright bow.  “Gifts” are truly a wonderful and fun part of this time of year.

But that small little word has so much more meaning when you step back and think about it from the point of view of the talents and special abilities others share with each of us throughout the year.  I was brought up to believe that the holiday season is a time to appreciate the gifts that we’ve been afforded throughout the year.

In my family, we learned to appreciate gifts of good health, gifts of friends who feel more like family, the gift of having a job that provides, and the ever important gift of having healthy food on the table.  Probably one of the most profound gifts my parents gave me was to never forget those who are less fortunate.  That commitment to caring for others is the calling that draws the thousands of healthcare workers here in Delaware to serve healthcare’s mission – a gift in and of itself that we give daily, 365 days a year, 24-hours a day.

For all of us in healthcare, we consider it a gift to care for you. Year after year at Bayhealth, we’re grateful to our patients for choosing us. We’re happy to play a role in helping our community thrive and to help our neighbors live healthier lives.

While many will be surrounded by loved ones in the warmth of their homes during the holidays, there will be thousands of healthcare workers sharing their gifts with patients in our emergency rooms, inpatient units of our hospitals, food services teams who prepare meals for our patients and so many more valued team members who make patient care possible.  They do it not because they have to, but because they love what they do and cherish the gifts our patients share with us everyday by entrusting us with their care.

This holiday season, I ask that all of us across Delaware focus on celebrating “gifts” by sending a note of thanks to those who teach and share their knowledge, those who serve to protect our neighborhoods, those give generously of their money and time to nonprofits, those who pay attention to details – details that save lives.  Let us celebrate those people who collaborate with one another to help our great state thrive and those who have huge hearts and give selflessly of themselves to help a stranger in need. 

For those of us at Bayhealth, we wishes bountiful gifts of good health and happiness for you and yours now and in the New Year to come. Happiest of holidays!

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