When he builds it, they come.
Date: February 27, 2006

People will come Ray. They'll come … for reasons they can't even fathom. … It'll be as if they dipped themselves in magic waters. The memories will be so thick they'll have to brush them away from their faces. People will come, Ray. … It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again. Oh... people will come Ray. People will most definitely come.

To my knowledge, Mike Davis has never built a baseball field, although I have no doubt he could. But, if a committee, team or department at Floyd wants to create a little magic, you can bet Mike, a master carpenter and electrician in Floyd’s Plant Facilities Department, is on the job.

Like the corn farmer who transformed his field into a place where dreams come true, Mike builds, people come and lives are changed.

The evidence of his talent is found in the most unexpected places.

When patients and their families seek solitude to contemplate the bigger questions of the universe, they do so in front of the faux stained-glass windows that Mike helped to illuminate and install at Sumner Chapel.

When visitors take a moment to enjoy original artwork in the Wright Arts in Medicine Gallery, they are admiring Mike’s handiwork. He’s the resident expert in displaying artwork and is the go-to man when it’s time to change out an exhibit.

It was Mike who collected and framed all the ceiling tiles painted by Floyd’s pediatric patients for exhibition, bringing smiles from the child artists and a steady stream of visitors alike. When a traveling exhibit from the Society for the Arts in Healthcare arrived with some of the original works slipped in their frames, Mike carefully removed the backing on the pictures, adjusted them in their frames and expertly replaced the backing–missing a couple of well-earned breaks in the process. It turns out that Mike has expertise in mounting pictures from a previous job at a frame shop.

When Public Relations envisioned giant pink ribbons for the annual Paint The Town Pink breast cancer awareness campaign, Mike produced them in 3-D.

When Rehabilitation Services sought assistance for some of their patients with disabilities, Mike engineered adaptive equipment. He built a series of benches for both pediatric and neurologically-challenged adult rehabilitation patients and designed and installed the Swiss cheese boards used in physical therapy.

And, when therapists in pediatric rehabilitation recognized a need for a special potty chair for a patient, Mike designed and built one.

The list goes on and on.

He’s the primary designer and builder of the stage at Celebration of Service and the giant replicas of the acrylic awards given to teams and departments, and over 600 people benefited from his work.

Last week, he was busy with a not-so-glamorous aspect of his job–inspecting and installing firewalls in preparation for an upcoming visit by the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, and he was equally as dedicated and his attitude equally as positive as when he’s working on a replica of a 1920s-era ticket booth and marquee.

But wood working is not the only gift he shares with Floyd.

When the carpenter has earned his right for an afternoon break, you won’t find Mike taking a seat. Instead, he’s standing around the piano in the medical center’s main lobby, strumming his guitar and singing harmony with an impromptu quartet.

His is the first name mentioned for any team that might need a little engineering or artistry. He is the first nomination if there’s a task that calls for woodworking and an attention to detail.

And, at the end of the day, if you need a little music and magic, call Mike. He’ll design the stage, wire the lights, paint the backdrop and sing harmony. And, his creation may just have the same affect as that cornfield diamond did on Moonlight Graham, who said:

This is my most special place in all the world, Ray. Once a place touches you like this, the wind never blows so cold again. You feel for it, like it was your child.

That’s what happens when, like Mike, you put your heart into your work.

<<back to Outstanding Story Archives