Saturday, December 1, 2012 - EDGEWOOD Addiction Treatment

Preparing for the Big DayThe tree, the lights, the scents of Christmas comingFrom front pageA couple ofweeks beforeChristmas,at a localtree farm, a giantBalsam Fir is cut andthen not-so gracefullytransported bytruck to Edgewood,where a crewof maintenanceand any staff whohappen to be at the right place and time greet it. They grunt,stumble and haul the green giant to its corner of prominence inthe Common area (the de facto living room for the patients).It’s always entertaining watching an uncooperative tree meetits match under the combined efforts to bring it upright in awobbly, topsy-turvy, often frantic fashion.Soon the tree is right side up and the sweet fragrance of itsneedles fills Edgewood’s halls and group rooms, meeting upwith mouth-watering scents of short bread and yummy concoctionscoming from the ovens in the kitchen.On duty in Bridges (the newly named kitchen)Al Blake heads into his ninth year asan Edgewood cook. He speaks with prideabout being part of a team of food serviceexperts who annually volunteer to createtraditional snacks and goodies from theirown history. The season brings unusual,but welcome, changes to the typical foodpurchasing orders. Bridges staff comes offthe planned menu grid for a shortstretch, specifically to tantalizepatients and alumni overChristmas.“Edgewood buys the ingredientsand everybody whowants to gets to create asweet or savory treat,”says Blake.Edgewood baker,Sylvia Hebert saysit’s a collaborativeeffort for her. “I makeall kinds of differentstuff, special deserts, special goodies. Lots of tarts and shortbreadand cookies,” she says with a smile. “Patients requestthings too, delicacies their mom or grandma used to make.Some people share their recipes with me and we make it. It’skinda cool to be able to do that for them.”The energy keeps building and patients get the sense somethingis coming, something wonderful. But how could it be?Isn’t treatment supposed to be bumpy, boring, maybe evenmore difficult than usual at this time of year?“Some people think it’s going to be a really badtime,” says Mike, a maintenance workerwith over a decade of service at Edgewood.“They know they’re going to misstheir family.”But as the lead hand on thetree standing brigade, Mikeknows what he’s doingwill bring smiles and helpwipe away the tears. “Oh,it brings me a feelingof elation. Because youknow what you aredoing is giving back.You get this feeling thatyou’re giving somethingto someone they’re notexpecting.”There’s also the humorof it all, especiallywith the difficult andawkward part of gettinga 20-foot high tree into a 16 footroom. “There’s tipping it up and having10-feet of branches behind andaround me, so much you can’t evensee me in there.”By Christmas Eve, the Edgewoodfamily is into its final stages ofpreparing the patients for the bigday. Couches and tables from thecommon area are gone, in theirplace stadium seating chairs, so everyone gets the chance tosee what Santa has in store for them when the big day arrives.