How does your garden grow at the General?
A community vegetable garden is sprouting up at Hamilton General Hospital.
The 11-bed garden — created through a partnership between Hamilton Health Sciences, Population Health Research Institute and Hamilton Victory Gardens — is meant to help patients with recovery.
“Since gardening is a functional activity, it can encourage a patient in a wheelchair to stand or a patient with a prosthetic leg practice their balance,” Kathie Elstone, a therapeutic recreationist at the Regional Rehabilitation Centre, said in a story posted to HHS’s share website.
Patients at the centre had participated in previous sessions with Hamilton Victory Gardens, so the idea was born to modify original plans for the hospital’s garden to make it accessible and functional for patients.
Garden beds at the HGH Campus Community Garden were built at a variety of heights to accommodate working from a wheelchair or standing.
Campus staff has the opportunity to sign up for volunteer sessions to help maintain the garden.
Hamilton Victory Gardens is a volunteer-based program that converts unused urban areas to gardens to grow produce for local food banks and meal programs.