Efforts are underway to beautify the Powell River General Hospital grounds and provide sanctuary for patients, visitors and the community.
Dr. Chris Morwood, co-chair of the Powell River General Hospital garden project, said this is a project that started a couple of years ago and has slowly been gaining momentum. It grew out of a desire to look at ways to improve health without waiting for illness to happen, he added. Nutrition and healthy eating are another important component.
A couple of years ago Morwood had a discussion with several colleagues and community members wondering what it would look like to have a food-producing garden at the hospital.
“This wouldn’t be of the scale to feed everyone at the hospital; that’s a whole other level of project,” said Morwood. “The idea was just to have a demonstration and an education project on hospital grounds that promoted and got people talking about nutrition and food sustainability.”
After some discussions, he started working with Powell River Employment Society and Vanessa Sparrow, the food sustainability coordinator there. She helped develop the proposal for the garden.
Morwood also went to the hospital and got director Melie DeChamplain involved. Also involved with the project were community dietitian Meghan Molnar and Jon van Oostveen, the architect. There have also been conversations with School District 47, the seniors centre and Powell River Recreation Complex about the garden.
The concept of a hospital garden has gone beyond the food component. In addition to having a place where there could be education and signage about the garden, and programming about food, there is also a need on the hospital grounds for space to serve as a relaxing place.
“Being outside in natural spaces has a really restorative effect,” said Morwood. “We wanted to create a beautiful space that patients, visitors or families could go and use.”
Finally, DeChamplain really wanted another place where the community could interface with the hospital, not just when sick, but also to come when they are well. Morwood said it is an educational, more proactive approach to health.
The hospital garden location is planned for the expanse of property along Joyce Avenue before turning into the hospital grounds.
“It will be right out front, and in addition to having food, for part of the year there will be natural plantings around it,” said Morwood. “It will be a year-round space for people to use.”
There will be beds of varying heights in the garden and it will be wheelchair accessible. The desire is for the space to be a structure for all ages and abilities. Above, there is a winding path where there will be tables and chairs in a garden pavilion. The garden will be about 50 by 40 feet in size.
Morwood said planners decided they would not move ahead until they could find and fund a coordinator for at least one to two years to help get it up and going, and develop a sustainability plan. The plan is to get volunteers and hospital staff involved so the garden is is not something that just sits there.
“That’s probably the biggest part of why it has taken so long,” said Morwood. “Trying to find some money to hire someone took a lot of work. In the end, it was actually the food supplier at the hospital, Sodexo, that agreed to come forward with money so we could hire a part-time coordinator.”
Other agencies that have come onboard include: First Credit Union; Vancouver Coastal Health has been involved since the beginning; Powell River Facilities Engagement Initiative, a physician-based group that has become involved; the Powell River Regional Hospital District has pledged financial support, along with Powell River Community Forest.
While there is opportunity for expansion, organizers of the hospital garden want to keep the garden manageable.
“We want a beautiful, safe space,” said Morwood, “that we can do programming in.”
