And the Christmas decorations winner is (drum roll, please) . . . Ward 5

CHRISTMAS CHAMPIONS: Ward 5 staff (from left) Carole Wallis, Rusty Burns, Ngawiki Te Kani, Louisa Fonoti, Sarah Kara, Rachel Brice-Hales, Dr Inte Malik, Forever Clay and Hekia Parata (with the trophy) celebrate winning the Hauora Tairawhiti Christmas decoration competition. The photograph shows only a small sample of the decorations that emblazon the ward. Picture by Paul Rickard

FESTIVE cheer is abundant at Gisborne Hospital with the annual Hauora Tairawhiti Christmas decorations competition going “viral” with nearly 800 online votes and wards and departments looking spectacular.

Votes came from Germany, the United States and Pacific nations, as well as from New Zealand.

Ward 5 was named the champion out of 13 entries.

Most of the accolades in Ward 5 went to senior registered nurse Carole Wallis as the spirit and the co-ordinator behind the “team’’.

Her thoughts went to her patients.

“People don’t want to be sick in hospital but the decorations have brought much joy to patients and whanau.

‘‘It’s boosted team morale like you wouldn’t believe.”

Mrs Wallace said in previous years the winner was chosen by management but this year social media took over.

She started decorating Ward 5 even before she knew the competition theme —Under the Sea — and did so in her own time and with her own money.

Sharks and yellow submarines are common features among many of the entries, which can be viewed on the Hauora Tairawhiti Facebook page.

Decorations run the length of the main corridor of many wards, but the Facebook video probably does not do justice to the quality of entries.

Hauora Tairawhiti introduced a trophy this Christmas. Ward 5 won from ICU/CCU/Flight Team, with Ward 8 third.

Mrs Wallace thanked her Ward 5 colleagues for their “amazing support” and that led to a friendly debate about who was going to remove the decorations after Christmas.