Akron Children’s education and wellness garden is intended to increase patient families’ access to fresh produce.
Located just behind the Locust Professional Building, Akron Children’s education and wellness garden is now in full bloom. Here, our department of Nutrition Services is growing a variety of vegetables, as well as some fruits and flowers, to increase our patient families’ access to fresh produce. Produce that is harvested from the garden is distributed to families in need through our Food Farmacy.
“This year, we planted a variety of produce with varying shapes and colors, such as different types of radishes and rainbow carrots and beets,” said Celina Cowan, manager of Nutrition Services and co-lead of the garden with Mike Folino, director of Support Services.
Dietitians in Nutrition Services developed handouts about a variety of fruits and vegetables and why they are important.
To increase exposure to fruits and vegetables for patient families, dietitians in Nutrition Services have also created numerous handouts for patient education. These handouts introduce different types of fruits and vegetables, explain why they are good for you and offer recipes.
“Some of the handouts segment fruits and vegetables by color to encourage children to eat from the rainbow,” said Celina.
The first educational program in the garden was a salsa-making demo with chef Miranda Taylor.
The department recently held their first cooking demonstration, a salsa-making class for employees taught by chef Miranda Taylor, using ingredients that are grown in the garden.
“We are planning to hold additional cooking demos using fresh produce in August and September, which is peak harvest time,” said Celina. “We are planning to offer two classes per month – one for employees and another for patient families.”
The use of the garden will continue to evolve as Nutrition Services explores other ways to fulfill the garden’s mission of education and wellness. This includes having patients in occupational therapy come to the garden to pick fruits and vegetables as a new and fun way to participate in therapy. These therapy sessions have the added benefit of teaching children where fruits and vegetables come from and how they are grown.
“We are excited about the potential for the garden and will continue to look for opportunities to grow our educational programming as we identify new needs,” said Celina.
Learn more about the garden and download the fruit and vegetable handouts.
