Two of our wonderful supporters, Beecher Grogan, mother of a patient, and Tom Paine, a landscape architect who helped design a portion of the Prouty Garden, appeared last night on BNN (Boston Neighborhood Network News) to discuss our efforts to preserve the garden. The video clip is below - it is quite moving and well-worth eight minutes of your time to watch.
Tom talks about what makes Prouty so special, including the specific attributes that qualify the Prouty Garden as a HEALING garden and not just a "green space." These include being immersive, inviting exploration, and being secure and soothing. You can read more about what constitutes a healing garden in Tom's excellent report on the matter, in which he compares the Prouty Garden to the hospital's proposed "green spaces" in the 11-story clinical building. That report is available here.
Beecher provides a moving, first-hand account of life at Children's with Prouty and without Prouty (when it was temporarily closed during an inpatient stay). She talks about the effect on her daughter's mental, spiritual AND PHYSICAL well-being of not having access to real nature. More on Beecher, her daughter Lucy, and her organization Lucy's Love Bus can be found here.
Remember, there will be a public hearing NEXT WEEK to discuss the need for Boston Children's Hospital's proposed expansion project that includes eliminating the Prouty Garden.
More information is available here or on our Facebook event page.