Why the St. Mary Healing Gardens Came To Be & What They Mean Now

by DIG-IT

- an interview with Greg Wozniak, president and CEO St. Mary Medical Center, Langhorne, PA

"Carter van Dyke and Sue Wert approached me and said they’d like to do something in honor of their mothers who both passed away at St. Mary at different times. Since they both like gardens they suggested they would like to look at a garden. I immediately said yes because our organization, St. Mary, was founded by the sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia and he was holistic in his care of nature and animals.

"So Carter and Sue took it from there. They did a wonderful thing. They got together a group of former patients and family members of those patients, our staff, and community groups and came back with a master plan for seven gardens, which surprised me. I only expected it to be one. We picked The Cloister Garden, which is in the center of our campus and which is a great asset to our patients, families and staff and our Cancer Center garden that eventually our chemotherapy patients will be able to look out on.

"Our most recent garden is our roof top garden right outside our Intensive Care and Oncology Floor. Timing is everything and we were getting ready to replace that roof. From a patient viewpoint, it was not a scenic place to look out on. From an energy standpoint, we discovered it would provide about 25 percent reduction in heating and cooling costs for the building directly beneath the garden. It was a win-win.

"It’s scheduled to take three years to grow in but from the time it opened people saw a difference. It fits so well with our mission of body, mind and spirit - the story of the lines in the garden that Carter developed.

"From a staff perspective, hospitals can be very stressful environments. The surroundings where you work make a big difference in people and sometimes you don’t realize that. We’ve had a lot of our staff really appreciate the surroundings. They go out into the Cloister Garden. It’s great for staff. They designed a patio as part of our cafeteria so our staff can go out and take a quick walk through there.

"From patients and families perspective the garden has been very touching. They can go outside and get a breath of fresh air. When families spend the last few hours with a patient before they pass on, they have the opportunity to be outside in a nice environment versus inside in a room.

"We have the opportunity to bring life into this world. We also help people in the next stage in life and the gardens have helped us in both periods. I remember seeing a lady one day with her two younger children. She had one hour a day to get outside because she was on complete bed rest. She took the time to go out into the gardens for the hour with her husband and children.

"It truly makes a difference for people. And the wonderful thing is it’s all given to us by the community. It’s a wonderful opportunity for the community to make a difference in our medical center. It’s been a great experience for us. It’s got us thinking about other ways to look at bringing gardens into the hospital itself. That’s something we’re looking at right now in all different areas."

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published January 15, 2009