GREENWOOD, S.C. — A table in a Greenwood hospice office has turned into a pumpkin gallery this month, as staff members at Hospice and Palliative Care of the Piedmont competed to see who could dream up the most eye-catching gourd.
By last week a dozen entries lined the table. Every department took part, and the contest came with no design rules at all. Entrants were not even required to start with a real pumpkin. Winners were chosen through a mix of in-house staff ballots and Facebook likes on the hospice page.
The designs leaned heavily on pop culture, from Joy of the animated film Inside Out to a Pac-Man game board, a Hobbit-style hillside home and a round Elf on the Shelf. A tall blue peacock dressed in real feathers, built by a nurse after a home care family with peacocks on its farm shared them, finished in second place.
The office manager said the staff tries to keep something lighthearted going, and that the contest lifted spirits behind the scenes of work many people assume is somber.
The organization calls itself the only nonprofit hospice and palliative care provider in the area. Since 1981 it has cared for more than 25,000 patients across seven counties, from Saluda and Newberry to McCormick, Edgefield, Abbeville, Laurens and Greenwood, and it employs more than 90 staff members. Its office is at 408 West Alexander Avenue in Greenwood.
Filed under: Greenwood SC Health News
