When Marge went out to put her letters in the mailbox, she didn't realize that such a short walk would change her life. She slipped on her icy driveway, hitting the ground hard.

Neither of her arms would move and all she could do was lie in the driveway and hope for someone to come. Luckily, the postman came in the afternoon to help her, but she had broken both collarbones and was in a great deal of pain.

Although she was admitted to a large hospital, she was informed she couldn't have surgery immediately because the surgeon was out of town for Thanksgiving. She lay in the hospital for three days waiting for the holiday to pass.

Paul was panicked when he couldn't get his wife to wake up from her nap. Tests performed in the hospital concluded she'd had a stroke. Nurses told Paul that she needed to be seen by a neurosurgeon, who was unavailable on Christmas. Three days passed in the quiet hallways of the ICU.

Although Christmas normally is full of cheer and joy, Paul endured watching his wife deteriorate. She later was moved into hospice and passed away peacefully a few months later. Paul never will know if being seen by a specialist sooner might have saved his wife. He remains resentful that adequate staffing support was not on-hand during the holidays.

My stepfather was admitted to the hospital one Thanksgiving for a high fever. The emergency room was absolute chaos and after being admitted, the attending physician told him that they needed the help of an on-call specialist, but would have to wait two more days since it was a holiday.

What the heck is going on? When all of these real-life examples happened to my family and friends last year, I became puzzled. Why were these hospitals understaffed during the holidays? Why were specialists unreachable? Then my mind raced to expenses on a self-insured plan. I wonder just how many hospital admissions were extended during holidays.

I decided to do some searching on the Internet to see what I could find. Interestingly enough, the only research I found on this measure were in countries outside the United States. Here in our country, our research details mortality rates on specific conditions.

Some research compares stroke victims over a eight- or 10-year period and conclude that mortality rates don't rise when patients are admitted on holidays or weekends.

Oh what a comfort! If I were to suffer a stroke, I can feel assured that my chances of dying don't increase on a holiday weekend. But don't the costs increase for employer health plans or Medicare? Why isn't anyone capturing the increased costs of staffing reductions during these times? If you know of some data, send it on, because I couldn't find any.

It seems that almost anyone I talk to has a memory of reduced or "hassled" care during the holidays. Even personally, I remember one Christmas when my son was a toddler and spiked a fever of 105 degrees. Rather than basking in the fun of presents and mistletoe, I found myself sitting among 40 or so families with sick children in the local ER.

The place was packed. The front desk administrator continually came out and apologized to us all, saying that since it was Christmas, they were short-staffed. We were there most of the day, and that holiday will certainly be one we never forget.

Urgent care centers have always been an efficient way to reduce costs. Why then do almost all of them close on holidays? Why does our American health care system shut down for Turkey Day? And why isn't anyone saying a word about it?

Oh yes, it's for the poor staff members that need to be with their families. After all, they deserve a holiday too, don't they? Growing up in a divorced family, I knew that one year I spent Christmas with Dad, the other was spent with Mom. Why doesn't this work with a hospital setting? I'm sure there are schedule challenges that I'm not aware of, but I refuse to believe that rotations aren't possible.

So what else could it be? Well, with most issues, it probably comes down to cost. In my Internet digging, I found some PowerPoint slides for a couple of hospital administrators that were making cases for reducing costs. What do you think I found? Holidays were a great way to reduce staffing costs and re-route care to normal business hours of Monday through Friday.

Perhaps this saves operating costs, but who is standing up for the health plans that have to incur additional costs because urgent care centers are closed? Who stands up for the extra expense of only having one specialist on call - who happens to be at Grandma's in the next state? Has the whole health care system decided to ignore this problem because they, too, want to enjoy a hot toddy on New Year's Eve?

While Marge has recovered, she still has the painful memory of waiting helplessly. And I see Paul in my neighborhood almost every day. His head hangs low. I can't imagine the loss he's been through.

When I look at Marge and Paul, I wonder. Could some of their suffering been avoided if our health care system considered holidays like any other day? I guess the best advice is not to get sick on a holiday. We'll see how it goes.