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Photo Edith OSB
Research that shows being in a garden can reduce a patient’s healing time and improve mental health has led to a flurry of healing gardens being built in hospitals. But are they always designed for the patients?
Leukemia patient and landscape architect Kevin Busa has questioned some of the assumptions made about patient care that influence the design of hospital healing gardens. Most are outdoor courtyards or gardens, with sunny places to sit and relax. Although this may seem a good idea, and also feel good for hospital staff of those visiting patients, often it’s contrary to what doctors are recommending for the patients themselves.
Many of a hospital’s sickest patients are those with severely suppressed immunity such as cancer patients going through chemotherapy, or transplant patients. For them, exposure to the pollens, dust, fungi and general contagion of an outside healing garden could prove lethal. Added to that, chemotherapy patients are more than 200 times more likely to develop skin cancers as a result of sun exposure.
Busa suggests looking at creating glassed-in garden environments where acute patients could enjoy the therapeutic effects of looking at a garden view, without exposure to the risky reality.
Read the full story at The Epoch Times
