Hospital focuses on 'food as medicine'

St. Joseph's Hospital in Ann Arbor, Mich., maintains farms on hospital grounds


St. Joseph’s Hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan, has maintained a farm on land that was once a hospital lawn since 2010. The farm, has since expanded to include three large “hoop houses,” that provide seasonal produce for patient meals, the hospital cafeteria and local food banks and a farmer's market all year long, according to an article on the ABC News website.

A few years ago, the hospital made one of the hoop houses disability-friendly by widening the aisles and raising up the planter boxes to make it easier for a person in a wheelchair to work the soil, Rob Casalou, president and CEO of St. Joseph, said.

An exercise bike pumps water to irrigate the plants so patients with neurological disorders from the hospital can water plants by pedaling.

“We began the farm in response to health of the community and the health of our own 6,000 hospital workers,” said Casalou.

Read the article.

 

 



January 7, 2015


Topic Area: Energy Efficiency


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