They don't see it as going beyond the call of duty, but just doing something that is part of the jobs they love... working with the clients at St. Brendan's Hospital.

Recently Dee Lacey, Monique Raynor and Gloria Easton were recognised by the Volunteer Department during their recent party for "doing a lot of extra things that make the clients feel special". Those things include making crafts and decorations around the hospital during holidays like Christmas, as well as taking clients on outings on their own time, to things like parades, picnics and parties.

"They call me the Martha Stewart of St. Brendan's," says Mrs. Lacey, an Occupational Therapist's aid in the Learning Disability Service.

Mrs. Lacey previously worked in the hotel industry for 15 years before `finding her calling' eight years ago when she joined the hospital. She is involved in decorating and making crafts.

"I make sure all the wards get involved in the projects," said Mrs. Lacey.

"It's like giving back to yourself when you see a smile when you say somebody looks nice or `how is your day'.

"When people see how we respond to the client and how the client responds back to us, it gives them encouragement also. We have some good staff in this hospital."

Monique Raynor, an Occupational Therapist within Community Mental Health Services, says the joy of helping challenged people makes it easy to go to work everyday.

"Obviously we enjoy getting a paycheque at the end of the month, but it's also about seeing a client who is happy, if only for a short period of time," she explained.

"Some of them have families who are not involved for various different reasons, so everyone who works here are their family. If you are going to work in the helping industry, especially mental health, you have to be a special person yourself.

"Not everybody can work in mental health, because you look at people and sometimes you see yourself in them and that can frighten you. It's a very special place. I qualified as an Occupational Therapist almost five years ago and worked in a physical (therapy) setting for a couple of months and hated it.

"Then I switched over to psychiatry and that was me. We're all a little quirky, you can't take yourself too seriously and you have to know how to laugh at yourself and be able to pass it on to the client as well.

She added: "I have worked here for almost two years, I lived abroad for awhile and worked, but I didn't even hesitate to think where was I going to come home and work. I knew it was going to be St. Brendan's.

"As an Occupational Therapist you can work in lots of different settings, you don't have to work specifically in mental health. I worked with children, in prisons and physical (therapy) settings but I just prefer working in mental health settings."

Miss Raynor works with outpatients, such as clients who may not be coping very well at home. "I would do a home visit and see what the problems are and come up with solutions to help them cope better," she explained.

"We also do a lot of outreach for the homeless who are mentally ill."

At this time of the year persons in the community, generally, reach out for those less fortunate than themselves, in the true spirit of Christmas. The clients at St. Brendan's also like to feel special at Christmas.

"Before we go home and settle down with our family we want to make sure everybody is happy," said Mrs. Easton.

"We treat them with respect. I do the best I can for these clients."

Miss Raynor reminded: "Sometimes people forget what the season is really about, it's not about getting, it's about giving of yourself to others who need it.

"The sad thing about the season is everyone has a dinner for the homeless at Christmas time, but after Christmas it stops until Christmas again. There are people out there who try to remember people on a regular basis as opposed to just Christmas time."

And the clients look forward to the holidays, too, said Mrs. Lacey.

"We have Christmas parties, dinners and lunches for them and they get involved in making Christmas ornaments, decorating and listening to Christmas music," she revealed.

This Christmas will be a sad occasion for Mrs. Lacey whose mother died on Christmas Day last year. The clients have helped lift her spirits this year.

"They (clients) certainly gave me a lot of inspiration this year," she said.

"It's been hard for me to get into the Christmas spirit but once I got here with the clients and we started working on our Christmas stuff it lifted me up."

Gloria Easton is a Housekeeping Supervisor, who also volunteers her time to help the patients feel special. One client she is close with is `Buster' who has Down's Syndrome and lives in one of the group homes. He goes to the hospital during the daytime.

"He can't say Gloria so he calls me ER, and I know what he's saying," said Mrs. Easton.

"Buster comes in mornings, comes in the housekeeping department, rests his bags down, goes downstairs and does chores."

Mrs. Easton also helps with the clients' hair and entertains them during holidays like Hallowe'en when she wears customers. She also participates in the hospital's pre-May 24 parade which is held the Thursday prior to the holiday.

"The staff cheers me on and they do appreciate it," she said.

"When I see no-one has done anything I will come in and do the best I can to help out. My four daughters also help out if they have to."

The trio point out that others in the hospital also go beyond the call of duty for the clients. Mrs. Easton mentioned Ruth Webb in her department while Miss Raynor had praise for her colleagues, Carla Looby, Lucy Douglas, Angela Ferguson and former staff member Anita Minors who arranged the Christmas dinner last week for some of the homeless clients.

Miss Raynor's mother did the floral arrangements.

Said Mrs. Lacey, the Nurses Assistant of the Year: "I would like to thank the recreation department for the help and support they give me. "I worked in the hotel for 15 years and I wish I had done this sooner, I've always been a people person and working here is a new beginning for me, like a breath of life.

"The mission statement says `The patient is the reason we are here' and if that is our main focus we can't go wrong.

"At Christmas time I have taken clients home with me for the day. When I got married I took `Randy' to my wedding. To this day he still talks about it. He was even in my wedding photos, he was so proud."