By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
There’s just something rejuvenating about digging in the dirt.
Residents of Wood Haven Health Care got a little of that hands-on therapy during the annual “KaBloom” event at the facility last week.
Dorothy Betts, who was planting some petunias in baskets in the courtyard, wasn’t particular about the type of flowers being planted.
“I like them all,” she said.
Filling up the flowering baskets brought back memories to Betts of the flowers she used to plant with her husband – impatiens, coral bells, daylilies, and bleeding hearts.
“I think it’s therapeutic,” Betts said. “Then you get to watch them grow.”
In addition to the flowers in the courtyard, there will also be tomatoes planted on the patio, where strawberries grew last summer.
“It’s a good thing for them to get into the dirt,” said Wood Haven activity leader Cindy Dow.
This summer, the residents will also be creating a fairy garden and a succulent garden. Those two garden plots are raised, making it easier for seniors to care for them, Dow said.
“They love to nurture them,” Dow said of the seniors and the summer flowers. “There’s something therapeutic about watching them grow.”
And spring is the ideal time for people to get outside.
“After being cooped up in the winter, it’s so refreshing to come outside,” Dow said.
The courtyard flowering benefits those who can’t travel to the courtyard as well. “They can see them from their windows,” Dow said.
Wood County Commissioner Doris Herringshaw and Wood Haven Administrator Jeff Orlowski plant flowers in front of facility.
In front of Wood Haven Health Care, another planting crew was busy at work last week. Wood County Commissioners Doris Herringshaw, Ted Bowlus and Craig LaHote, as well as county administrator Andrew Kalmar and assistant administrator Kelly O’Boyle were digging in to plant flowerbeds with Wood Haven Administrator Jeff Orlowski.
They came armed with their own trowels, gloves and sunscreen, to make the job more pleasant.
Orlowki said the KaBloom program has several benefits for Wood Haven residents.
“It’s been known that gardening has been able to lower blood pressure and increase brain activities and give a good general feel to whoever is doing it,” he said. “We are doing all kinds of different activities. The KaBloom program pretty much came out of getting the residents outside on nice days in May and to get the employees involved and the families involved. The whole focus of these activities, and this is our overall goal at Wood Haven, is providing an outstanding experience, and activities are so much a part of that.”
