When four friends in Erlanger’s HealthLink office decided to add Christmas cheer to their cubicles, their efforts ultimately spread merriment throughout the hospital’s employees.
Judy Folkner, Janet Watts, Dora Ryder and Jennie Keith began decorating their office cubicles the week before Thanksgiving based on Dr. Seuss’s Christmas classic, “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.”
Whoville, as their decorating project came to be known, was built over a two-week stretch during which the quartet daily brought items from home to add.
“We had a very modest Christmas last year,” said Folkner of their first decorating effort.
“The four of us sharing this office just thought we would do a ‘More is more’ theme this year,” she quipped. “We wanted something fun-loving and we all thought it was a cute idea.”
Folkner is a HealthLink marketing nurse along with Ryder and Watts. Keith is a HealthLink community specialist.
Folker credited Ryder’s creativity for ensuring their Whoville scene included roast beast (a pink pig on lights), a faux fireplace that “burns” with holiday lights, the Grinch’s cave on Mount Crumpit, a Grinch tree and even a can of Whoville Hash.
“Dora is a great user of vertical space,” said Folkner, “so we have beautiful spirals with big paper globes and paper chains draping the ceiling.
“You really have to see the whole room, particularly when it’s dark outside and all the lights are on, blinking and swirling and even reacting to movement. It is completely magical,” said Pat Charles, Erlanger public relations employee who shares the suite with Whoville’s creators.
Folkner said that as word of Whoville has spread through the hospital’s offices, a lot of visitors come through “just to get a laugh for the day” and numerous staff members have brought their children by.
So just as Seuss’s Whos congregated in the town square to welcome Christmas, the four friends decided to gather their friends as well. They hosted a reading of “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” in the decorated suite this week for staff members’ children.
“We’re all glad we did this,” said Folkner. “The whole month has been enjoyable.”