A Christmas Surprise for Hospital Patients
TTUHSC Pathology’s Santa, Mrs. Claus and Elves share holiday cheer

Santa Claus, Mrs. Claus and elves delivered early Christmas presents to young patients
                        and spread holiday cheer to those still young at heart at UMC Children’s Hospital
                        and Southwest Cancer Center.
 
Employees from Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) School of Medicine’s Department of Pathology dressed up as Santa,

Mrs. Claus and elves and gave out candy canes, blankets, headphones, playing cards,
                        stuffed animals, word searches, coloring books and crayons and posed for pictures
                        with patients, visitors and employees.
 
“Our director, Warren Hatley, grew his beard and we started telling him he would be
                        a great Santa because his beard was getting long,” said Lupita Ramos, elf and lead
                        specialist. “He pondered the idea for a couple of days and suggested going to the
                        Children’s Hospital and Southwest Cancer Center and the rest of us could be his elves.
                        This is the first year that we did this, and we couldn’t be more happy and humbled
                        to bring smiles to these children and their parents.”
 

Between 25 to 30 young patients received presents from the group, who contributed
                        the funds to purchase the gifts.
 
The Department of Pathology members were motivated to do this project because the
                        nature of their job excludes seeing patients and they wanted that human interaction.
 

“The gift of giving is priceless, and we are privileged to work with a department
                        that did not hesitate to come together for this special event,” Ramos said.
 
“Although this is our first year to do this, there was a lot of enthusiasm for this
                        project. If all goes well, we plan on making this a yearly event,” Hatley (Santa Claus)
                        said.
 

The elves included Teri West, chief histologic tech; Nelda Cruz, lead coding and reimbursement
                        specialist; Irma Acevedo, senior coding and reimbursement specialist; and Paola Jimenez,
                        histologic assistant, portrayed Mrs. Claus.
 
“We are definitely looking forward to doing this again next year,” Ramos said.
Related Stories
Summer Program Introduces Medical Students to the Research Laboratory
Each year, approximately 100 first-year TTUHSC School of Medicine students — more than half of the Lubbock class — step out of the classroom and into the laboratory to spend part of their summer making unique discoveries through the Medical Student Summer Research Program (MSSRP).
Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Nursing Named Best Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing Program in Texas
The TTUHSC School of Nursing Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program has been ranked the No. 1 accelerated nursing program in Texas by RegisteredNursing.org.
TTUHSC Names New Regional Dean for the School of Nursing
Louise Rice, DNP, RN, has been named regional dean of the TTUHSC School of Nursing on the Amarillo campus.
Recent Stories
Summer Program Introduces Medical Students to the Research Laboratory
Each year, approximately 100 first-year TTUHSC School of Medicine students — more than half of the Lubbock class — step out of the classroom and into the laboratory to spend part of their summer making unique discoveries through the Medical Student Summer Research Program (MSSRP).
TTUHSC Researcher Awarded CPRIT Grant to Study Type of Pediatric Bone Cancer
CPRIT recently awarded a two-year, $198,822 grant to Balakrishna Koneru, Ph.D., an assistant professor of pediatrics at TTUHSC’s School of Medicine and Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences.
From Classroom to Clinic: Building the Future of Speech-Language Pathology
The Clinical Experience Course in the Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences program at TTUHSC provides students with hands-on, practical application of the theoretical knowledge learned in the classroom.
