June 28, 2007 - Media Release

Community & flowers bloom at local hospital

AMHERST, NS (June 28, 2007) – When the Cumberland Health Care Foundation received notice that a friend of the Foundation wanted to make a difference for patients and their families by arranging for a donation of bedding plants, it was at an opportune time for the Foundation as it was continuing to maintain and update the Holly Spicer Memorial Garden at the Cumberland Regional Health Care Centre.

“It was a very generous gesture from a fellow gardener,” said Joe Gauthier, Managing Director for the Foundation. With the Foundation coordinating the pickup of the plants, a newly formed volunteer gardening club at the hospital pitched in with then assessing how to best utilize the number of plants donated.

The hospital gardening club had recently made a goal of recruiting additional hospital staff volunteers, materials, and plants to create new flower beds surrounding various areas of the Hospital. The first simple raised bed was created near the Auxiliary Café and the hospital cafeteria in early June.

For Lisa Sangster, RN it was a chance to do something that would give back in a different way to not only the patients and families but also to her co-workers. “Like most Canadians we spend eight or more hours every day at the workplace”, she said, “and gardening is not only a form of stress relief in the activity itself but also enables a sense of peace visually for people”.

Dr. Carolyn Atkinson and Carol Embree planting flowers for patients

Less than a week later, a second flower bed was created just outside of the Palliative Care rooms with staff volunteering their break and off-work hours to plan and begin their gardening project. Their goal was to have a pleasing and calming flower bed visible for palliative care patients and their families while at the unit. “We’re thankful that we have such great people in our Maintenance Department that have come forward and built the actual beds themselves”, says Carol Embree, a palliative care nurse, “it’s a team effort of working towards the same goal of enhancing the lives of patients – every little bit counts during difficult times for patients and families”.

The Cumberland Health Care Foundation is a registered Canadian not-for-profit charity dedicated to enhancing the provision of a high standard of health care within Cumberland County by raising funds and supporting new and improved services, programs, equipment and facilities. For additional information, please visit our website at www.chcfoundation.com.