GERALDTON – Walking towards the hospital’s main entrance, one can’t help but notice a large collection of young plants to the right – some in raised boxes, some at ground level. It’s the long-term care garden.
Ryan Wach, Geraldton District Hospital’s support services manager, said in an interview this week that funding for the garden came mostly from the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation, with the rest of the cost covered by “donations in town” and the hospital auxiliary.
With its roomy and wheelchair-accessible space, he said, the project in its second year has been well received by long-term care residents.
“It’s good to just get them outside. It’s something to bring them back to something they might have done back at their own homes.
“So we like to make it very homey here so they feel welcome, and it just keeps them busy, keeps their heads going.”
Some plants are on raised beds while others are lower down so that residents can garden whether “in a wheelchair or outside of a wheelchair,” said Wachs.
A new resident’s interest in gardening “kind of kickstarted the need to have the space outside,” he said.
A space was created for that person, and then “we figured we needed more and not just for him (but) for everybody … And that’s what got us to this,” Wach said, gesturing to the array of burgeoning veggie plants.
One clear result from the project is the “joy and smiles” of residents, said Kelsey Cleaveley, co-chief nursing executive.
“You see residents excited to get up in the day (and) come outside. You know, winter months are long … So getting outside, getting the fresh air, coming out to garden, getting their hands dirty with soil – it brings lots of joy to the residents.”
The long-term care unit’s residents were “super excited” to reap and enjoy their crops last year, Cleaveley said.
“Of course, we have to make sure the vegetables are clean and everything, but the residents get really excited to have the vegetables they grow here.
“It’s something again, you see the joy and the smiles on everyone’s faces when they go inside and after growing these vegetables themselves they get to share it with everyone.”
