Gingerbread House Contest showcases the artistic talents of local healthcare providers

Dec. 23—PRINCETON — A gummy bear audience listened to "The Nice List Rejects" in concert while The Sunburned Santa Resort and The Tipsy Octopus offered a tired Santa Claus the perfect vacation spot. They were examples of the artistic talents put forth by local healthcare providers for the Gingerbread House Decorating Contest.

WVU Medicine Princeton Community Hospital brought forth some holiday fun by inviting departments from its Princeton and Bluefield campuses as well as the Behavioral Health Pavilion and Mercer Medical Group clinics to create and submit their gingerbread creations. The public can vote on their favorites gingerbread entries by going to the hospital's Facebook page where a photo of each entry is posted. The one earning the most likes will be the winner.

"At the end of the competition, we will award prizes to the first-place winners," said Heather Poff, the hospital's vice president of human resources.

"We have over 1,500 employees, so it's very hard to have an activity where everybody can participate at once," Poff stated. "Something like this does allow everyone to participate, and it also focuses on team building, it allows our employees to have some camaraderie, improve morale and it gives us an opportunity to bring joy to our patients and the visitors who come to our facility."

Gingerbread Contest entries were lined up near the hospital's main entrance. Mickey Bowen with the hospital's risk management department entered a gingerbread model of the hospital's Parkview side.

"I've always found the Parkview side of the hospital to be very, very pretty," Bowen said. "I thought it would be a very large statement.

Risk management's model is actually made of graham crackers, spackling and various candies.

"I would not recommend eating it," she said. "Absolutely not."

Spackling holds gingerbread houses together better than edible frosting which tends to dry out and crumble, she added.

Jackie Akers and Jill Bell of the hospital's laundry department showed off the gingerbread Christmas scene that they and their coworkers created. It featured Santa Claus, snowball fights, houses, ice skating and a nativity scene.

"The whole laundry department did it," Akers said.

"It's like a family affair because that's what Christmas is about," Bell added.

Danielle Keffer of 3 South Orthopedics said her clinic put together a concert stage featuring the gingerbread band "The Nice List Rejects" and a gummy bear audience.

"We all really like going to concerts," Keffer replied when asked how 3 South came up with the idea.

Another entry on display featured two wide-eyed gingerbread people and a collapsed gingerbread house. The culprit was a tornado inspired by "The Wizard of Oz." Rachel Blankenship and Mecca Lewis of 3 East Pediatrics said their clinic "just wanted to do something different."

The hospital's environmental services department created a gingerbread Christmas village, one cottage for each of the three shifts, said Marlene Hambrick of the EVS department.

Next door to this Christmas village stood a beach scene with The Sunburned Santa and The Tipsy Octopus. Pretzel sticks and uncooked spaghetti went into its construction.

"This is where Santa goes when he needs to relax," said Marie Shrewsbury.

Voting for the favorite gingerbread creations will continue through the holidays, Poff said.

— Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline.com

Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline.com