Friends of Prouty Garden today announced they would not appeal the Massachusetts Appeals Court’s April 19th decision which upheld the Superior Court’s dismissal of their complaint about the state Department of Public Health’s slack regulatory process and its role in Boston Children’s Hospital’s $1 billion expansion project. The decision effectively ends a four-year legal battle to preserve the historic Prouty Garden, which served as a tranquil oasis for ailing children and their families for more than 50 years.
This week, Boston Children's Hospital unveiled its new rooftop garden. The space contains a small patch of grass, paved walkways, tables and chairs, and some potted plants. It may be a nice space, but it lacks nearly everything a therapeutic healing garden should contain.
This afternoon, Suffolk Superior Court Judge Janet L. Sanders will hear arguments on two closely-related motions filed by the Ten Taxpayer Group comprising Friends of the Prouty Garden in its pending lawsuit against Boston Children’s Hospital (BCH) and state public health officials. With the parties’ legal briefs already on file with the court, this will essentially be the hearing on the merits of the Prouty Garden court case.
In addition to violating Condition 8 of the DoN, the lawsuit alleges that the hospital began construction activities associated with the new tower without written approval from DPH of preliminary and final architectural plans, as required by state law, and that BCH failed to implement a plan for communicating the status of the expansion project to community groups, as required by another DoN condition.
The Prouty Garden at Boston Children’s Hospital was such a treasure and during the week of this year’s Earth Day, it provided a fragmentary piece of evidence testifying to its deep value. The tree, symbolically, and perhaps in a true and real spiritual sense, drew in the worst of those fears and the deepest of despair and gave back hope and confirmation that there is more to our existence than just our physiological well-being. Love, courage, faith, compassion, hope, patience, endurance and a myriad of other qualities play a far greater role in determining whether we live a “good life” or not. The Prouty Garden was a place where one could go to confirm that truth every day.
Last night, Friends of the Prouty Garden Gus Murby and world-renowned pediatrician Dr. T Berry Brazelton appeared on Greater Boston with Jim Braude to discuss the garden. The hospital is now trying to bulldoze this story by refusing to comment, claiming they have all the approvals they need, which is decidedly not true. As host Jim Braude says, that is arrogance with a capital A.
The Friends of Prouty Garden plan tomorrow to hold meetings with legislators and aides to outline our objections to the massive $1 billion Boston Children's Hospital construction project, which would result in the destruction of Prouty Garden. We have meetings planned for tomorrow with Speaker DeLeo's office and the offices of the House and Senate chairs of the Health Care Financing Committee, Representative Sanchez and Senator Welch.
Children’s leadership claims that our only choice is to destroy Prouty Garden to maintain first-rate pediatric care. Sacrificing nature will not sustain medical excellence — it will lower our overall quality. We need to show the innovation, compassion and courage that has made Children’s No. 1 by saving Prouty Garden, making it integral to our improvements, and celebrating its dawn redwood as the symbol of the resilience, tenacity and reverence for life of Boston Children’s Hospital, our staff, our patients and their families.
Many of you wrote into the Department of Public Health during its public comment period as part of its Determination of Need (DoN) process for the hospital's expansion application. In the coming weeks, we will be sharing some of the most important of those letters. We start today with this letter from Dr. Paul Hattis, former Consumer Advocate appointee to the Mass. Health Policy Commission.
In June 2012, my then 11-year-old son Nate was diagnosed with metastatic undifferentiated sarcoma, cancer of the soft tissue and bone. It is hard to say what we liked most about the Prouty Garden but I know that my son saw it as an escape that heightened his senses in a very positive way, whether it be an opportunity to breath in fresh air, to smell fresh cut grass, to feel the warmth of the sun or the cool wind, or to just listen to the peaceful quiet or the birds singing. It was always a much-welcomed retreat from the confines of the hospital.
Our supporters have been sending us some marvelous photos from the Prouty Garden this week. This year's mild winter and recent rash of unseasonably warm days have left us with early signs of spring—daffodil shoots, buds on trees, and people breathing happy sighs as they sink down onto fresh grass. For those of us who worried we may never seen another spring in Prouty, these are soothing and welcoming signs indeed.
Great news! Our Change.org petition, started more than four years ago, has reached a critical milestone of 15,000 signatures. This comes at an important time as the Department of Public Health will be considering the hospital's expansion proposal in the weeks and months ahead. What's more, we were able to secure the last approximately 1,000 signatures in just ONE DAY due to the fervent support of our SaveProuty.org family.
Today, the Friends of the Prouty Garden published another full-page advertisement in the Boston Globe. Our message is simple: for the generations who have come before and the generations still to come, the Prouty Garden absolutely must remain. It is hard to describe merely with words and pictures just how very precious and powerful, how very life affirming and soul soothing, the Prouty Garden is, unless you have experienced it firsthand.
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, including what makes the Prouty Garden so special and genuinely a healing garden, and what life is like at Children's without Prouty. It is quite moving and well worth a watch.
The Department of Public Health will be holding a PUBLIC HEARING next Thursday, February 25th at 4 pm as they consider BCH's application for its $1 billion expansion project that includes destroying the historic Prouty Garden. We urge everyone who is able to please come to the hearing and plan to ARRIVE EARLY to assure a seat and sign up to speak. This is PUBLIC FORUM. Anyone with comments which may be relevant to consideration by the Department of the need for this project is welcome to speak.
Just days ago, state regulators from Department of Public Health determined that Boston Children’s Hospital must provide an independent cost analysis demonstrating that the planned $1 billion campus expansion won’t undercut their efforts to restrain growth in health care costs. According to news stories, this is only the second time in history that the state has required such a cost analysis.
This week, the Friends of the Prouty Garden published the attached full-page advertisement in the Boston Globe, highlighting the difficult, yet necessary conversation about the Prouty Garden as a "Sacred Space." Renowned pediatrician T. Berry Brazelton lends his support for our beloved Prouty—a healing space that is a haven not only for children and families who get well, but for those who have had to say goodbye.
We are fortunate to have, at this late hour, the support of world-renowned biologist, conservationist and author Dr. Edward O. Wilson, who has written a marvelous letter to the hospital leadership in favor of preserving the Prouty Garden.
