Samaritan Lebanon Community Hospital is planning the development of a Japanese-style healing garden as a way of both honoring major donors to the hospital's foundation and increasing overall health for patients and staff.
Several months ago, during a meeting at Wiley Creek Community of the hospital foundation, which will provide funding for the $250,000 project, internationally recognized landscape designer Hoichi Kurisu and his son, Koichi, unveiled their preliminary sketches of the proposed 10,000 square foot garden.
The men were introduced by foundation president Bill Rauch, who said he has known Mr. Kurisu for some 40 years. They first met when Rauch spent six months in Japan as an exchange student during college. "We see the need to do something first class that helps people," Rauch said. "Studies show that therapeutic gardens reduce the overall cost of medical care and that surgeons who visit the gardens for just a few minutes before an operation, reduce their chances of making mistakes. Patients who visit are calmer, feel better and heal faster."
Rauch said the garden would also provide and opportunity to recognize donors to the hospital foundation. The current recognition area features eight sculptures and has no room for additions. The Foundation has received an $800,000 bequest from the Dora Hall estate and her relatives have agreed to fund the $250,000 for the garden through this bequest, Rauch explained.
"As Hoichi said, we have to begin looking at the total person and hospitals can't be just brick and cement," Rauch said. "Gardens make people feel better." Kurisu International has gained international acclaim over the past 30-plus years and has offices in Portland and Lake Worth, Fla. The company specializes in "creating unique gardens of the highest quality; sensitive designs and superlative craftsmanship…gardens of vision for lives of insight." Mr. Kurisu has twice been recognized by U.S. presidents, including Ronald Reagan and George Bush, senior.
Koichi Kurisu said the history of therapeutic gardens goes back to 500 A.D. when private gardens were part of religious ceremonies. In the 1600's, caregivers noticed that patients who were working in gardens to pay for their health care, healed faster than those who could afford to simply pay for their care. In the early 20th century, he said, occupational therapy degrees in horticultural therapy were offered by colleges but by the late 20th century, hospitals had become concrete structures, very institutional. "When you lose contact with the ground, human scale is lost," Koichi said.
The elder designer said that when he first came to America in 1962 to join his father's landscaping business, he was amazed at the size of the cars and of people's homes. "I wanted to contribute to life through my profession," he said. "I believe any garden should be a garden to open your heart, see the beauty and restore you." He added that to heal, one must first find out his own identity. "Healing is not covered only by medicine," he said. "You must open the other side of your mind to be healed."
Mr. Kurisu said his plans for the garden call for several water features including ponds and waterfalls. Stones, flowers and other greenery will grace Americans with Disabilities Act-approved walking ways. There will also be small private areas where patients or staff members can go to meditate, read or enjoy sounds of the garden. The garden will be designed so that maternity area patients can enjoy its beauty without worrying about the public having access to newborns, Rauch said.
Also, the hospital's oncology area would probably be moved to face one side of the garden, an area currently used by the hospital records division. "It's quite possible that this garden could become a research area for other hospitals," Rauch said. "This is a trend that's just beginning but has so much potential for all involved."
Rauch said the garden could actually decrease the cost of medical care. "If a surgeon could spend a few minutes in the garden before an operation, he could relax, be less stressed and ultimately, have fewer problems," Rauch said. The same is true of patients, whose chances of successful healing increase if they are relaxed and feel good about their surroundings.
Rauch said the garden is "more than just putting rocks out there" noting that the designer implements a complex mixture of designs all based around mathematical formulas that the mind subconsciously identifies. "This garden could create a better environment for everyone involved," Rauch said.
© The New Era
www.sweethomenews.com