Keesler team wins 'Golden Bedpan' during National Hospital Week

Published May 25, 2011
By Steve Pivnick
81st Medical Group Public Affairs

KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. -- Nurses and medical technicians and one physician from the 81st Medical Group Hospital have brought home the coveted "Golden Bedpan Trophy" for the second time in three years.

The 81st Medical Group contingent took top honors in the annual Scrub Shirt Scramble May 12 on the Biloxi Town Green in a high-spirited competition that pitted teams from nine medical facilities in four events.

According to team captain Mary Peterson, 81st Surgical Operations Squadron, "The Scrub Shirt Scramble is held each year during National HospitalWeek, and this year it also coincided with Keesler's Nurse-Tech Appreciation Week. Local area hospitals come together for food, fun and competition. The winner of the event earns that coveted bedpan and bragging rights for the next year. We definitely wanted to bring it home."

The Keesler hospital joined Singing River Hospital, Biloxi Regional Medical Center, Grace Healthcare, Memorial Hospital at Gulfport, Garden Park Hospital, Hancock Medical Center, Select Healthcare and The Boyington Healthcare Facility in this year's competition.

The teams, consisting of one to four people, faced off in the T-Shirt Contest, "Aim Is the Name of the Game," "Bedpan Shuffle," Wheelchair Relay and Electric Scooter Race. A panel of three judges awarded points for each event and the team with the most points at the end of the competition was presented the trophy.

In the T-Shirt Contest, the judges selected the winner as two team members "strutted their stuff" in the team's personally- designed T's.

For the "Aim Is the Name of the Game" event, three members from each team tossed five syringes at a score board, depicting body parts, from a distance of about 10 feet.

The Wheelchair Relay was a four-member relay race in which three separate blindfolded members pushed another in a wheelchair, who gave directions to the pushers.

Three members from each team participated in the "Bedpan Shuffle." The bedpans were filled with water and an apple was placed in the pan.The participant had to walk with a crutch, carrying the bedpan in one hand. The team with the fullest bedpan at the end won.

And finally, in the one-person Electric Scooter Race, the winner simply was the first to reach the finish line.

Peterson added, "Others showed up to support us and lots of folks stopped by with their families. It was great to see such a huge support turn out from Keesler this year! I'm glad to make the hospital proud and can't wait to do it all over again next year."

Keesler team wins ‘Golden Bedpan’ during National Hospital Week