Mental Health & Function

Encounters with nearby nature help alleviate mental fatigue by relaxing and restoring the
mind. Within built environments parks and green spaces are settings for cognitive respite,
as they encourage social interaction and de-stressing through exercise or conversation, and
provide calming settings. Having quality landscaping and vegetation in and around the
places where people work and study is a good investment. oth visual access and being
within green space helps to restore the mind!s ability to focus. "his can improve #ob and
school performance, and help alleviate mental stress and illness.
The manicured gardens and green space at Legacy Salmon Creek Medical Center didnt appear by
happenstance.
Every shrub, tree and floer as planted ith a purpose. The benches, pathays and aterfalls
ere included for a reason.
The goal of the hint of nature is the same as the goal for many of the services the hospital provides!
to help people heal.
"esearch has shon that people ho interact ith nature have a brighter outlook, a positive attitude
and more energy. #utdoor settings can also have a calming effect, resulting in decreased blood
pressure and loer stress levels.
$%ts kind of hard to have a therapeutic affect ithout nature,& said Teresia 'a(en, registered
horticultural therapist for Legacy 'ealth.
%n a hospital setting, hen the visit isnt alays a happy occasion, having places for patients and
family members to stop and catch their breath can be a sanity)saver, 'a(en said.
$*ou dont really have to think about anything,& she said. $*ou can +ust be in nature.&
,t Legacy Salmon Creek Medical Center, patients, visitors and staff have a fe locations here they
can e-perience the healing effects of nature.
.isitors are elcomed to the campus ith a lush, colorful healing garden.
Leafy, light green trees, dark green bushes and bare branches frame the garden. , aterfall sends
slo)moving ater floing don one side of the space, droning out the noise of hospital traffic.
"ed, yello and purple tulips bring a pop of color. , gravel pathay lets visitors ander/ benches
give them a place to rest.
#n one side of the garden sits the hospital building, on another is the medical offices building and on
yet another side is the parking structure. Skybridges connect the three structures and encompass
the garden, giving patients, families and staff a vie from above.
The hospital building houses another garden, this one on a large outdoor balcony outside of the
intensive care unit.
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The garden offers reprieve for families ith loved ones in the intensive care unit, fresh air for hospital
employees and a place for kids to burn e-tra energy, 'a(en said.
Legacy 'ealth built its first healing garden in 1223 at 4ood Samaritan Medical Center. ,t that time,
healing gardens ere a novel idea. Since then, theyve become fi-tures at hospitals across the
country, 'a(en said.
5eace'ealth Southest Medical Center is among the hundreds of hospitals ith gardens on their
campuses.
The medical center made green space and gardens a priority because they sho patients they are
entering a nurturing place, said 6ean "ahn, e-ecutive director of the 5eace'ealth Southest
Medical Center 7oundation.
$%ts been proven that if you provide healing spaces that are nurturing, calming, offer some privacy,
that its good for not only the patients but the families,& "ahn said. $'ealing is more than +ust medical
treatment. %ts the environment in hich the medical treatment takes place.&
, fe years ago, the medical center transformed the 7amily 0irth Center courtyard, hich had been
overgron ith tangled bushes and trees, into a serene garden. The healing garden as built in
philanthropist 8ollie Lynchs honor.
$%t has been ama(ing hat that space has done,& "ahn said. $%ts +ust calming to look at.&
The courtyard is used by an-ious e-pectant fathers, restless children and families mourning children
ho dont survive, she said.
5eace'ealth Southest also has a garden outside the 7irstenburg Toer lobby and a private garden
for hospital employees to rela- on their breaks, "ahn said.
$%ts +ust a little place to retreat and have some moments of 9uiet,& she said.
%n addition to the mental and emotion benefits of the gardens, being outdoors has positive physical
effects, 'a(en said.
5eople alk through the gardens and patients use the areas for physical therapy. The gardens also
get people e-posed to fresh air and vitamin 8 and encourage people to build their on gardens at
home.
$This is a pretty cheap intervention for health,& 'a(en said. $Every one of us need that nature
e-perience for our health and ellness.&