Metamorphosis at GNGH
As a physiotherapist at Greater Niagara General Hospital, Allyson McKnight spends her days helping to improve patients’ physical functions through intervention and rehabilitation.
At home, she maintains that role — but for a different set of patients.
The avid gardener added milkweed plants to her garden at home about five years ago in order to attract monarch butterflies.
The butterflies lay eggs in the garden which hatch into caterpillars that feed exclusively on the milkweed plants. After a few weeks, the process of metamorphosis begins.
The caterpillar transforms into a pupa, or chrysalis, and the butterfly emerges about 10 to 14 days later.
McKnight began “raising” monarchs about four years ago.
“I’ve raised a few hundred so far,” she said.
This week, she brought in 11 pupa to the hospital’s physiotherapy department to share her passion with both patients and co-workers.
“The monarchs are very symbolic with the whole metamorphosis, they change so dramatically,” McKnight said. “It’s similar with rehab.”
The pupa darken in colour when they are about to emerge. McKnight expects several butterflies to take flight over the next few days.
She usually raises two generations of butterflies each summer. The latter generation are typically migrating butterflies and will eventually make their way to Mexico.
The patients are getting a kick out of the new additions to the department.
“It adds a little bit of cheer and it’s something different,” McKnight said.
Patient Anne Lemon, for example, is a longtime member of the Niagara Falls Garden Club.
“We talk a lot about gardening,” said McKnight, who is also a member of the Niagara Falls Horticultural Society.