Therapeutic gardening
Don MacCandless rolls his wheelchair to the raised garden bed and expertly wields a lightweight hoe on pesky weeds. The soil appears loose and healthy, the tomato plants lush.
"Just because I'm in a wheelchair doesn't mean I can't do anything," he says with a matter-of-fact fierceness.
At 70, legs heavily bandaged and his back recovering from major surgery, MacCandless is usually confined to a wheelchair, but at Freeport Health Centre in Kitchener, working in the hospital's therapy garden has given the retired truck driver a renewed interest in life.
"It's enjoyment. To see what we can do, see the flowers; it's therapeutic for me," he said. "It helps, no doubt."
The therapy garden is situated in a small but beautiful space surrounded by mature trees and a swath of grass. Eight raised flower beds made of concrete allow patients to access garden beds without bending over, and each bed is filled with flowers, vegetables and herbs, stimulating the patients' tactile sense as well as the visual and olfactory.
Here are aromatic basil and chives, brilliantly coloured coleus, roses, heliotrope, petunias, thick stands of lilies, velvet soft lamb's ear and a naturalized area.
The garden was developed in 1990 for long-term care patients, and within two years volunteers raised money to build a spectacular Asia-style arbour covering the centre courtyard.
It's a wonderful place, surrounded by trees thick with birds and butterflies.
"I come out nearly every day," said MacCandless, who arrived in September and was awaiting a bed in a nursing home.
He has kept busy during his time at the hospital, particularly getting seeds ready for this spring's planting.
Recreation therapist Penny Nickel along with volunteers from the Kitchener Horticultural Society work with patients once a week, encouraging them to use tools that are extendable and lightweight.
She said often patients will wear gardening gloves but soon toss them away to feel the warmth of the soil.
"We do a lot of composting and learn a lot from our patients," added Nickel, who said patients love to experiment.
"Last year we grew blue potatoes."
The number of patients involved in the program varies and all early seed development and care is done in the hospital's solarium, a lovely respite during the winter.
Horticulture therapy was brought to Canada in 1983 by Mitchell Hewson, who trained in the U.S. and started the first program in Canada at Homewood Health Centre in nearby Guelph, Ont.
Today, Homewood employs a half-dozen horticultural therapists who work with upwards of 200 patients.
Similar to music and art therapy, dealing with plants, soil and new growth touches the patient in a unique way and is considered a form of complementary therapy, used in conjunction with clinical therapies.
The Homewood's Julie Martin said "it's about the whole person," explaining that patients who work with plants often feel a spiritual connection as well as experiencing physical exercise and mental peace.
For the therapist, how a patient reacts can be very telling. Martin explains.
"It's used for assessment purposes ... assessing a person's cognition."
Defined by the Guelph-based Canadian Horticultural Therapy Association as "the use of plants and the natural world to improve the social, spiritual, physical and emotional well-being of individuals," this type of therapy is admittedly not for everyone.
"We need to be very aware of triggers," Martin said. "There are likes and dislikes and preferences."
Some patients prefer planting seeds, other want to tend the plants and still others prefer to just sit and absorb the sights, scents and tastes. Nickel noted that vegetables grown at Freeport are eaten by patients and basil added to flavour vinegar is sold in the gift shop.
Martin concluded: "It's becoming more accepted as a discipline in long-term care facilities."
She added that new facilities are being mandated to include green space for patients. Therapeutic gardening is known to help ease patients' anxiety and depression, and they are given a renewed sense of purpose.
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