Dec. 22, 2000 Holiday banners hung through the hospital with care

mgh logo.gif (3422 bytes)

December 22, 2000

The banners honor traditions such as Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, Ramadan, Christmas, Chinese New Year and Epiphany. The committee that developed the banners was a grassroots effort initiated by Beverly Lasovick of Human Resources and Rev. Mary Martha Thiel, director of the Chaplaincy, in response to employees' observations about the need for more variety in hospital decorations to reflect many cultures and religions during the holidays. The chair and co-chair of the Ladies Visiting Committee (LVC) joined the committee's efforts to expand the holiday decorations to include other traditions. The banners were funded by Patient Care Services, Materials Management and the Office of the MGH President.

122200Banners.jpg (26710 bytes)

From left, Bobbi Evans, Deborah Washington, RN, and Father Felix Ojimba

"This project began with an interest in making the MGH even more welcoming to patients and employees, which generated a response from people who had nothing in common except their personal commitment to diversity," says Deborah Washington, RN, director of Diversity for Patient Care Services and a member of the committee that created the banners. "This is an excellent example of how diversity is in the hands of everyone here and is driven by all MGH employees."

Members of the committee include Beverly Lasovick, Rev. Mary Martha Thiel and Deborah Washington, along with Greg Doyle, director of Buildings and Grounds; Bill Banchiere, director of Environmental Services; Helen Doherty, director of Food and Nutrition Services; Pat Rowell, director of Volunteer Services; Bill Belton of Buildings and Grounds and the co-chairs of the LVC, Bobbi Evans and Phoebe Coues.

Return to the December 22 table of contents