"Children's Emergency Department Christmas Day!"

Our toddler came and sat on my lap refusing to use their left arm on Christmas day - even tried to open presents with one arm. Even though we hadn't seen what happened, at that point we knew something was wrong. Understanding few GP clinics would be open Christmas day, we checked the ED app online and noted only a short wait. As interstate visitors, we were impressed with this service that isn't available at home. Parking was easy and close on arrival. We didn't even have to queue at triage and could approach immediately. The staff offered to take our child past the Ambulances on the way to admission, which was loved. When seated, we only had a short wait until approached by a doctor. Dr Josiah took us to a private room for examination and invited a senior doctor to assess the injury because there wasn't any obvious signs of trauma, nor bruising etc. The doctor recognized the problem straight away. It was a dislocated elbow! This was a great relief that we didn't even need an X-ray. After a brave little cry and a quick pop our child had full arm movement again. The two doctors were very reassuring and never made us feel guilty. They were compassionate and caring, offering to have us stay in the waiting room until we were satisfied our child was back to their 'old' self. While back in the waiting room, we were given lots of attention and hospitality. There were books our child looked through and offers of Christmas treats. We were especially overwhelmed by the unexpected toy gift that they also gave our brave toddler. It is still played with back home most days. Overall, we were 'blown away' by the entire team effort to make all the kids feel special, despite having to be in hospital on Christmas day. A wonderful experience that we can't speak highly enough about. Thank you so much to everyone who looked after us in Pediatrics ED at Canberra Hospital. Your support and care was amazing.