Something to Smile About

Children lined up for their presents Friday during the Christmas party at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center’s neonatal outpatient trailer. Three-year-old Stephen Canada III rolled his toy motorcycle, and his mother’s face cracked as she took a deep breath.

“Lots of people are talking like it’s a bad hospital,” Amanda Canada, 27, said as she wiped tears from her eyes. “But it’s not. They’ve been sticking by Stephen, and they’ve been sticking by me since he was a baby.”

Doctors and nurses organize the party each year for their young patients.

But this year, the event took on added poignancy because of the troubles facing the hospital -- a series of medical lapses that resulted in patient deaths, the closure of its trauma center and the threat of losing its national accreditation.

For Dr. Xylina Bean, chief of King/Drew’s neonatology division, the hospital’s problems, set amid a Christmas giveaway, have caused much soul searching. But she said all the turmoil had actually spurred the community to donate even more toys, books and food this year.

“I think people recognized that the institution was at risk, and they came out to support it,” she said.

Noting the happy expressions on children’s and parents’ faces, Bean said, “They appreciate you.

“Nobody else does,” she added with a laugh, “but they appreciate you.”

More than 500 children, from infants to grade-schoolers, received gifts and were entertained by hospital staff members dressed as elves.

“I want them to believe in Christmas and Santa Claus; that’s why I bring them here,” said Martha Diaz, 31, as one of her five children, Illebeth, 7, clutched a doll. Illebeth was born with Down syndrome and has been treated at the hospital in Willowbrook, south of Watts, for most of her life.

Maria Gurubel, 57, said she had heard about King/Drew’s problems but appreciated what the hospital had done for her grandchildren.

They have “gotten good attention, good medicine, good doctors and nurses who have always treated them very well,” she said.

She added that three of the grandchildren she brought to the party had a father in jail and a mother with drug problems.

Her grandchildren suffer from asthma and emotional problems, Gurubel said, but she believes the Christmas party gave them a boost.

“Something like this motivates them; it gives them something to look up for. It makes them happy,” Gurubel said as her grandchildren clutched toys that included pink butterfly wings, ballet slippers, dolls, toy pearl necklaces and a toy motorcycle.

Wini Jackson, a community outreach coordinator for the Los Angeles County Probation Department who has volunteered at the party for years, said the number of donated toys gratified her.

But she said she was hoping for far more food donations, especially big-ticket items like turkeys and hams.

The families, many of which are poor, rely on such donations to help get through the holiday season.

“I was very concerned that with all of these things going on, people would forget about the children,” Jackson said of King/Drew’s strife. “You have to look for the bright light in the darkness, and you must never forget about the children.”

At a ceremony during the party, the Women’s Discipleship Group, a Christian community organization, presented the unit with $20,000 to pay for new neonatal equipment.

“We’ve heard all about what’s going on at King, and we are standing with you and next year we are going to do even more,” said Terri McFaddin, the group’s chief executive.

“Everybody knows it’s been a pretty rough year,” Dr. Bean responded. “We are especially grateful that the community is supporting not only us, but that specifically they are supporting the children in our community.”

Bean said events like the Christmas party underscore the great needs that exist in the South Los Angeles area that King/Drew serves.

The need becomes clear, she said, when one sees what a difference the food, toys and baby formula make in the lives of the children.

“One of the reasons I came here,” Bean said, “was that there was that approach to healthcare where you realized you need to go beyond the walls of the hospital out into the community if you wanted to impact the health of children in the long run.”