Healthcare and Therapeutic Design Newsletter, Summer 2011

Letter from the Chair
Greetings faithful readers! I hope you enjoy this latest newsletter from the Healthcare and Therapeutic Design Professional Practice Network. Editor Sally Shute has once again compiled an excellent newsletter; I’m sure you will want to join me in thanking her for her work. This newsletter belongs to all the members of the PPN and it’s a great way to showcase your work.
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Last Chance to Visit and Enjoy the Rusk Therapeutic Gardens in NYC!
At a time when hospitals throughout the country and the world have realized the healing power of nature and are including therapeutic gardens in their facilities, it is dismaying that three well-loved gardens will be demolished, albeit for a good cause.
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Can Prison Landscapes be Secure, Restorative, and Ecologically Sustainable?
For the most part, the views surrounding prisons and jails in the United States are bleak expanses of lawn, chain link security fences, walls and concertina wire, like the image above. Occasionally the view is broken by perennials planted near an administrative office or a vegetable garden in a secured area. This landscape typology evolved from the real need to keep staff, inmates, and the public safe from harm.
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Building the A.R.E.’s Healing Garden
Helping to create the Harris Prayer and Meditation Garden in 1994 was much more for me than just a garden design project. Not that I hadn’t designed gardens before, that’s what I do, but this particular garden launched my interest in the power of the mind, body, and soul in relation to gardens. I was fortunate to be the designer selected by A.R.E. for the Harris Garden project and to promote this garden as one of my earliest successes.
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Methodist Women’s Hospital Healing Garden, Omaha, Nebraska
Sitting high on Omaha's western horizon, the new Methodist Women's Hospital is an inspiration for women's health. The 116-bed facility and companion medical office building are located on 33 acres just inside the entrance to an upscale suburban neighborhood. Acting as an extension of the healing environment inside is a meticulous outdoor garden installed within the outstretched wings of the hospital’s building façade.
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