Raised Flower Beds for Horticultural Therapy

Submitted by djfreit on Sun, 04/12/2015 - 02:10
Joshua
Freitas
Benefiting: 
Willamette View Retirement Community
Date of Eagle: 
Friday, April 3, 2015

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Joshua worked with Tara, the Horticultural Therapist from Willamette View. Tara's idea was to have some Raised Flower Beds for residents with limited mobility to use. Residents that have a garden or flower bed to tend are more active as a result. Tara asked for 19 Raised Bed Planters -- 3 being single Planter Bed frames & 8 being double Planter Bed frames. 5 of them at 'wheelchair height' & the rest at 'standing height' -- to be placed in an unused patio at the facility. Joshua took measurements to use for the 2 varied heights.

Joshua then worked to design the plans for the Raised Bed Planters. The Planters needed to hold concrete mixing tubs that would contain the soil. Joshua coordinated several workers over several different days to get the Planter Frames built & stained. The Planters were built with casters on the bottom so that they could be rolled around for easy moving or repositioning. But 'lockable' casters where used on the front of the Planters to prevent movement once the Planters were in place.

Joshua's project was started in the Fall then much wet & inclement weather took over to delay the work. But Joshua was able to take advantage of some dry days & get the Planters completed & delivered in early March. This allowed Tara to sign-up residents & get them organized for Spring planting.

Tara was very happy with the Raised Bed Planters. The Planters enabled people to be active caring for flowers or vegetables even when they could no longer get down to work in the dirt on the ground. (By bringing the dirt up to a height where they could be seated in a wheelchair or standing up beside the Planter.)

Tara had other Residents at the facility (that lived in apartments with a small patio) that wanted their own Planters as well. So Tara asked if Josh could create some printed design plans for others to use to build more Planters. Joshua's plans were converted into a PDF file & passed on to Tara for the other Residents.

Tara also attended a national conference of Horticultural Therapists on the East coast about 5 months later. She took Joshua's plans to use as part of her presentation at the conference. Then Tara was able to share the plans with other Therapists at the conference who took them back to use in their facilities in other states & cities.

Notice the last 2 pictures are of a Thank You Note that was received after the 2nd Year of use of the Raised Bed Planters by the Willamette View residents. They grew many vegetables & flowers in the Planters.