Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/a-healing-garden-a-unique-outdoor-area-promotes-healing-and-wellness-through-connection-with-nature/5026743/
*Photos can be found in the pdf version of this article.
Children and their families come to the University of Florida Health (UF Health) Shands Children’s Hospital in Gainesville, Florida, to receive treatment for the most serious diseases that a child can face—diabetes, cancer, brain disease, and heart failure, among others. The complexity of treatments often means that children are in the hospital for weeks or even more than a year. That is a long time to restrict a child to a hospital room without the opportunity to go outside and play.
Recognizing the healing benefits of time outdoors, the USDA Forest Service (USFS) and other organizations collaborated to create the UF Health Children’s Healing Garden—a space where patients and their families can lift their spirits and connect with nature. The garden is a certified Nature Explore Classroom, part of a national network of outdoor play and learning spaces.
USFS has a national-level partnership with the Dimensions Educational Research Foundation Nature Explore Program and has sponsored construction of other Nature Explore classrooms at strategic locations around the country. Though the garden’s official opening is planned for later this year, its initial development was complete in March 2020, and patients and hospital staff use ...