The day before Christmas Eve, as millions are frantically shopping for last-minute gifts or tying up loose ends in the office to head home for the holiday, the Prout High School hockey team of Wakefield, Rhode Island made their way to Kent Hospital in Warwick after getting off the ice following an early morning practice.

The air was frigid, teetering in single digits as the teens walked inside eager to meet some of the patients staying within the ACE unit, one of the only hospital units in the state that caters specifically to geriatric patients. The hallways of this hospital are known by some of the players — especially Riley Smith, who visited his grandpa at this hospital during his battle with cancer just last year. And this Christmas, Smith learned that he wasn’t alone in what he had endured.

“The experience and hearing examples of other teammates’ grandparents brings into perspective that it applies to almost everyone’s life and surrounding family members,” the forward told the Register. “And it’s important to give everyone a memorable holiday despite where they might wake up Christmas morning.”

And that’s just what these hockey players were doing on the first day off of winter break. Carrying bags of goodies up flights of stairs to deliver to patients who were anxious to go home. Blankets, coloring books, crossword puzzles, and handwritten cards and other items to help pass the time were welcomed by patients, including a woman who has a special place in her heart for hockey players.

The elderly woman was surrounded by team captain Caleb Burnett and assistant captains, Angelo Evangelista, Aiden Forcier, Liam McIntosh and Cole Weathers who spoke with her about her own family members who spent time on the ice.

Hospital patient Mrs. Lynch spoke proudly of her own son who played hockey for another Rhode Island Catholic high school, Bishop Hendricken. She was hopeful to go home for the holiday, but she was soaking in the moments with these young men who were grateful to spend time with her that day.

Alternate captain Forcier read a special Christmas card each player had signed before giving her the gift bag.

For senior forward and captain Caleb Burnett, who lost his own grandfather in July, the special community project meant a great deal to him.

“Losing my grandfather this past July made the event deeply personal for me,” Burnett told the Register. “Knowing firsthand the pain these families are enduring, being able to provide support and hope during such a challenging time felt truly impactful and meaningful for everyone who attended.”

The captain, who is voted in by all the hockey players to receive that coveted rank, also mentioned the importance of serving alongside his fellow players.

“As a team, we recognize the substantial impact our actions can have on people’s lives, which is why we are so deeply committed to events like these. It was very meaningful to have the opportunity to bring positivity and support to families during their especially challenging holiday season.”

Assistant captain Cole Weathers said it was “extremely rewarding to see the effects of our team’s efforts firsthand.” The senior defenseman with dreams of working in finance noted the “positive impact our team had on the patients was beautiful to see, especially around the holidays.”

Being in the hospital during the holidays can be an extremely scary time for families with so many unknowns and concerns about the health of loved ones, and Prout Hockey head coach John Gaffney thinks Christmas is an ideal time for his team to consider those in this fragile state.

“Christmas charity is rooted in celebrating the birth of Jesus who is the source of divine generosity,” Coach Gaffney who lost his own father this past year, told the Register.

“We wanted our young men to experience giving, donating their time and charity to the vulnerable during this Advent season. Similar to Jesus’ vulnerability, during Christmas, we engage our young men to look to help those in need.”

And this need really isn’t going away, as the Prout Hockey team learned from hospital staff. Dubbed the ‘aging’ or ‘silver tsunami,’ graphs were shown to the players reflecting the current aging population within the United States, and the great need for care for older adults. 

Rather than focusing on a patient's medical problem, geriatrician Dr. Aaron Nepaul said that the Kent Hospital James E. Fanale ACE Unit (advanced for the elderly) focuses more holistically on the patient following the 4M's framework:

What Matters, Mobility, Medications, and Mentation

Dr. Kadesha Collins-Fletcher, medical director of the ACE unit led the team on a tour, sharing that older adults admitted to the unit tend to have a shorter hospital length of stay and decreased risk of readmission when compared to similar patients admitted to the routine med/surgical floors. There are fewer than 50 ACE units nationwide that focus specifically on older adults.

Kent Hospital's executive chief of surgery, Dr. Melissa Murphy and mother to junior hockey player Riley Smith, works annually to shape and execute a project that gives back to the community for Christmastime.

“Community service is an integral part of the mission of The Prout School,” Dr. Murphy told the Register.

“Each year I work with the seniors to pick a project to both help the community and provide a personal connection for the players. This year they chose to focus on the ACE unit at Kent Hospital. This was personally impactful as many of our players had grandparents that had been in the hospital and they could understand how providing comfort could brighten the day of an older adult in the hospital during Christmas.”

And this year, this project really hit home for her and her family.

“This was personally meaningful to both me and my son, as Riley’s grandfather had been a patient in the Kent Hospital ACE unit during his battle with prostate cancer,” she explained.

“While as a physician I routinely care for inpatients, as a family member I was able to personally understand the special care and attention patients on the ACE unit receive in the mission to provide age-friendly care. I hope these community service projects inspire our young men on the hockey team to work hard on the ice, but also recognize giving back to your community is a life-long commitment.”

And as this year's project may have struck a chord for me personally, accompanying my sister and my nephew down the long corridors of a hospital ahead of Christmas where my dad once carried hope of coming home, may we all remember those suffering alone this winter, and take a page from the Prout hockey playbook. It's never too late to visit a hospital, drop off Christmas cards, or knock on the door of an elderly neighbor, as we keep in mind the vulnerability of the Christ Child this Christmas season.