One central building holds an auditorium, the canteen and recreational facilities. The wards are spread out around this central building, necessitating a short walk to the hospital wards. The plan for the day called for the students to separate into 13 groups, with each group visiting one of the 13 wards. Each group was equipped with a grocery cart with a card attached telling how many patients were in the ward. The cakes, cookies, oranges, apples and bananas were then loaded into the carts and the students went off to the wards.
Sweets are a rare commodity and the patients eagerly anticipated the treat.
Angel-food cakes were available for the diabetics. The students sang Christmas carols and visited in each ward for about an hour. The entire group of boisterous and high-spirited youngsters went to the nursing home to sing songs, chat and cut cake for the patients there. And some of them are the kids of some of the kids that went with me in the early years. Chambless is very much in demand and in command of the whole operation.