The opening of New Zealand’s first large-scale indoor healing garden at Auckland’s North Shore Hospital is a dream come true for PDG Peter Garnett.
By Hannah Martin / Stuff
Sitting beneath towering palm fronds in a hospital garden he helped fundraise for is the realisation of a dream for New Zealand Rotarian PDG Peter Garnett – but one he didn’t expect he’d use as a patient so soon.
In July, Aotearoa’s first large-scale indoor healing garden opened in Tōtara Haumaru, the new medical and surgical building at Auckland’s North Shore Hospital.
Designed as a haven away from the noise of a hospital, the garden spans 110 square-metres and features more than 500 plants, some of which stand two metres high.
But research indicates the garden environment may also impact on patient outcomes, potentially reducing time in hospital and even levels of pain.
The healing garden was funded through donations to Well Foundation, the charity for North Shore and Waitākere hospitals, and community health services across West Auckland, the North Shore and Rodney.
Well Foundation raised $1.8 million over three years, with support from the community.
Peter, a member of the Rotary Club of North Shore, was among the individuals and organisations involved.
When a healing garden was raised as a potential project, a group of Rotarians got “quite excited”.
“We took a deep breath and committed to raising at least $100,000 to contribute to it,” Peter said. A goal they achieved.
Tōtara Haumaru, opened by Health Minister Shane Reti on June 30, has eight surgical theatre operating suites, four endoscopy rooms, and five 30-bed wards.
The garden is in the atrium of the new building, and is visible from patient rooms and from three levels.
It also includes a staff-only area to give hospital workers a non-clinical space to relax.
The first time Peter walked into the garden, “I must admit, I just went very quiet,” he said.
“It just felt magic, it really felt magic.”
PICTURED: The healing garden at North Shore Hospital. (Photo: Abigail Dougherty / Stuff)
But, getting to use it as a patient came as a bit of a surprise.
Peter recently ended up in North Shore Hospital’s surgical unit. He spent a night in a different building, with no view, before being moved to Tōtara Haumaru.
While “it wasn’t the plan”, being in hospital gave him a first-hand look at the fruits of the community’s labour.
“It was just beautiful looking out, and thinking: ‘Wow, this is why we did it’. It was exactly what we dreamed it would be.”
Research has shown that green spaces in hospital environments encourage relaxation and reduce stress, and also help with recovery and improved clinical outcomes.
Other research found taking daily work breaks in an outdoor garden may be beneficial in mitigating burnout for hospital nurses.
Waitematā nephrologist and Well Foundation board member, Dr Janak de Zoysa, said the healing garden is a “positive” area, which patients can enjoy indoors – an important factor during winter.
There’s evidence that healing gardens have “positive impacts” for oncology patients, and those with mental health disorders, Dr Janak said.
It also provided staff an area to “decompress and get away from the busyness of the hospital”.
Dr Janak wanted to pay tribute to the community for funding the “biggest healing garden in Australasia”.
“We’re incredibly fortunate to have it,” he said.
“I think, well, if we can do this for more hospital or health environments, how different would people’s experience of the health environment be?”
Ryan McQuerry, creative director for greenscaping service Outside In, said the idea was to emulate the feeling of being in Aotearoa’s native bush – with the added challenge that the plants needed to thrive indoors.
Outside In developed a new product specifically for the healing garden to form the layered canopy. It includes more than 500 plants, including New Zealand natives.
Ryan hopes healing gardens become more common in clinical spaces.
“I think, well, if we can do this for more hospital or health environments, how different would people’s experience of the health environment be?”
Peter said the initial dream was that the healing garden would be a place of peace, relaxation and somewhere “those issues that families deal with… will just come away”. That it would be a place where people “can just spend time with loved ones, can perhaps talk about some critical issues, but do it in this lovely, relaxing, peaceful environment”.
Now a reality, Peter hopes it will “really affect a lot of people over the years ahead”.
The design concept for the garden was developed by Jasmax, with Outside In, specialist studio Haumi, and the Well Foundation.
MAIN PICTURE: PDG Peter Garnett’s recent stint in North Shore Hospital gave him the opportunity to enjoy the indoor healing garden first-hand as a patient, and what the community had worked so hard to fundraise for. (Photo: Abigail Dougherty / Stuff)