Maintenance Workers Deck CRMH Halls!

The delicate, battery-powered lights blink along the cord that has been strategically snaked through the poinsettia plant. Giant, red velvet bows anchor the green garland draped along the ceiling arches. And the large wreaths decorated with red and gold ornaments coordinate perfectly with the red and gold ornaments on the Lights of Love tree.

Walking into the west lobby at Roanoke Memorial Hospital is like walking into a festive holiday portrait—and the artists are two electricians and a finisher from Carilion’s Facilities and Maintenance Department.

Over three days after Thanksgiving, electricians Nick Aesy and Seth Spence and finisher Rob Dickinson found time between their regular job tickets to transform the lobby into a holiday paradise. In previous years, another employee led the holiday decorating. But he is at another site now.

“Nobody really appointed us,” said Nick, who has worked at Carilion nine years. “We just kept it going.”

Nick teamed up with Seth and Rob, relative newcomers who joined Carilion eight months and six months ago, and dug up old decorations from “the cage,” a storage spot in the Belleview parking garage. The trio decided they needed some additional swag and got approval for a purchase order for Home Depot.

But Home Depot was out of what they needed. So they went to Dollar Tree, dug into their own pockets and paid for the additional trinkets to complete their holiday masterpiece. (Yes, they have been reimbursed.)

In all, the men put up and decorated three trees, hung yards of garland along with the giant bows and large wreaths on the massive pillars in the west lobby. Seth and Rob, who strung holiday ornaments on their work cart, already are looking forward to next year.

“This is the lamest decorations you’ll see,” Seth said. “We’re gonna go up and up from here.”

Thank you to Nick, Seth and Rob for decking CRMH’s lobby with holiday spirit.