Fox 28: South Bend, Elkhart IN News, Weather, SportsDoctors, police, tow truckers work hard on Christmas

Doctors, police, tow truckers work hard on Christmas

It's a holiday many people celebrate by taking the day off and spending time with family. Sunday was Christmas, but not everyone got to enjoy a day off.

Doctors and nurses, police officers, towing company workers, and restaurateurs were some of those found working hard on Christmas.

Dr. Mark Kricheff, an emergency room physician at the St. Joseph Regional Medical Center in Mishawaka, said Christmas is no different from any other day in the sense that sickness and illness can strike at any time, and emergency responders have to work fast to address it.

"That's part of running an emergency department, is that we have to be available every day, every hour, every minute, every holiday," said Dr. Kricheff.

Brad Boughner, who was visiting family in South Bend from Canada, did not expect a painful trip to the emergency room on Christmas, but he was grateful Dr. Kricheff was working and was able to stitch his sliced toe.

"I'm glad that there's doctors here to stitch it up so I can keep my toe and get to keep walking," said Boughner.

Kricheff says sometimes working on a holiday just comes with the territory.

Ptl. Dustin Sahlhoff with the Elkhart County Sheriff's Department believes the same. He said working on Christmas helps keep the community safe, and it's a small sacrifice he's glad to make.

"We come on duty just like regular and respond to the same types of calls that we would normally, from vehicle crashes to stranded motorists that need help when we're out on patrol," said Ptl. Sahlhoff.

When stranded motorists are involved, Jerry Kindig is sometimes called to help.

Kindig is a manager at Howard's Towmaster. He'd rather not work on Christmas, but he knows doing so made at least one person's holiday better.

"She called a few minutes ago and she was very happy that we were able to respond to her so quickly and got her home safe," said Kindig.

And with so many restaurants closed on Christmas, customers like Regina Hoffman appreciate the people who helped keep the Great Wall Restaurant in Elkhart open.

"When we came to this one and saw that there was a lot of cars out front, we said, 'Great. I guess that's where we're going!' So, and we were very pleased. It was excellent," said Hoffman.

Chicago post office letter carriers also worked on Sunday. They picked up where the big man left off. Postal workers traveled their regular routes this morning to help deliver any leftover express mail and other holiday packages.