Residents at Courtland Gardens Nursing & Rehabilitation Center in Randallstown, MD, are using one of their favorite hobbies to improve the environment. The residents are taking part in programs where they plant flowers using compost from their own cafeteria and others.
Josh Koizol a greening facilitator for Reduction and Motion, an environmental company that works with Cortland Gardens, explains that the compost contains "food scraps left after cooking and left on cafeteria trays." He says that containers with leftover food are picked up three times a week and composted.
Hannah Williams, a therapeutic recreation specialist, CTRS, at Courtland Gardens says "our residents definitely enjoy the gardening! Seeing the plants bloom, getting their hands dirty, and going outside is good for them." Gardening is a way for patients to use their fine motor skills, socialize, and move around.
"We use gardening as a recreation tool to promote better quality of life." Williams continues. Residents plant with compost around twice a month and invite family members to join.
Courtland Gardens is one of the few long-term care centers in Baltimore area that has residents using composted materials. Composting is the decomposition of once living materials to make a substance that is great for adding to garden soils; it is a critical step in reducing the volume of garbage unnecessarily sent to landfills for dumping.
Courtland Gardens are part of LifeBridge Health, which includes Sinai Hospital, Northwest Hospital, and Levindale Hebrew Geriatric Center and Hospital and is one of the largest and most comprehensive providers of health services in the northwest Baltimore region.
Study shows community health workers can improve asthma care for children