Attention to detail will ensure that all materials being brought into the Markey Cancer Center’s healing garden are safe for patients with compromised immune systems. (Photo provided)
A former “concrete canyon” at the Markey Cancer Center in Lexington is being transformed into a healing garden.
Located on the east side of the Ben F. Roach Cancer Care Facility, the garden will be completed in early December. It was designed by Bill Henkel, president and co-founder of Henkel Denmark and Wendy McAllister, landscape designer, Henkel Denmark. The project was funded by the Lexington Cancer Foundation and will be called the Lexington Cancer Foundation Healing Garden.
In December 2012 the University of Kentucky and Henkel Denmark were notified that the Lexington Cancer Foundation was funding 100 percent of the healing garden’s design and installation. Ground was broken on Oct. 7 after 10 months of meticulous detail to ensure that all materials being brought into the garden area are safe for patients with compromised immune systems. Henkel Denmark and UK conducted focus groups with doctors, nurses, staff members and patients, and had many meetings with the university to get approval from the administration, engineers and infectious disease professionals.
The garden will be visible 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. (Photo provided)
The healing garden is roughly 50 feet by 90 feet, or 4,500 square feet. Low Kentucky limestone sit walls enclose the healing garden, which will be visible 24 hours a day, 365 days a year with lighting for safety, as it is in a high-traffic area.
No annuals will be allowed to be planted, only annuals in pots, because planting necessitates digging up soil and releasing dust in the air. Henkel Denmark is using artificial mulches (no bark mulch) and sterile soil. Native Kentucky perennials like Solomon’s Seal and Lenten rose are grown offsite and brought in by way of sleeved planters. Because the healing garden’s soil cannot be disturbed, anything with soil has to be wet down before transporting and planting. No fountain will be installed, because water contributes to the possibilities of infectious disease.
“Once the garden is planted it will stay where it is,” Henkel said. “We will do the weeding by hand. There won’t be any chemical sprays.”
Henkel Denmark is donating five years of care to the garden. Bill Henkel is certified in healing garden design, the only registered landscape architect in Kentucky with that distinction. He earned certification in “health care garden design” in May 2011.
“From the massive atrium window at the Roach building, patients line up daily and enjoy watching the garden construction progress,” Henkel said, adding that it is designed for patients to get sunshine and fresh air, and for their families, physicians and staff.
Lexington Cancer Foundation has funded a number of patient support and education projects at Markey Cancer Center. Vicky Myers is the chief development officer at UK HealthCare and the College of Medicine. She and Henkel looked around the medical campus to find the perfect spot for the healing garden. While there were several places that needed help, they settled on the site at the Markey Cancer Center.
“I think it’s an excellent addition to the kinds of projects we’ve taken on here to improve the environment of patient care,” Myers said. “It is also a place supportive of the staffs who work here.”
From Henkel Denmark
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