CEDARVIEW LODGE administrator Lenore Paterson (left) and director
of resident care Diane Scott hold up plans for a new special care garden
for the North Vanceuver facility.

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WHO SAYS the _ perfect
garden is unattainable?

By EVELYN JACOB
Contributing Writer

Lenore Paterson has news for
you. As the director of North
Vancouver’s Cedarview Lodge In-
termediate Care Facility, Paterson
has spent five long years observing
patients — most of whom suffer
from Alzheimer’s and other
degenerative brain diseases —- and
has come up with a plan for a
garden that will be safe, comfor-
table and soothing for the lodge’s
patients.

Although still in the planning
stages, the garden consists of
flowers and shrubs with soothing
color tones: light pinks, mauves,
and greens.

Grapevines will wind around
trellises, and an abundance of
fragrant herbs such as thyme and
chives will provide a ‘‘great olfac-
tory experience,”’ says Paterson.

“With Alzheimer’s patients the
recent memory is much more im-

Helping

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in distress

PAGE 30

29 - Sunday, September 18, 1988 - North Share News

garden plan

paired than the long-term memo-
ry,” Paterson says. ‘‘We use
things in the environment that
have an association with long ago
to conjure up pleasant memories.”

The idea for a special care
garden is to create a safe and com-
fortable area for patients to stroll
and relax.

Walking, in particular, is a great
way to reduce anxiety, which is
one reason for redeveloping the
garden. Paterson says the existing
garden at the fodge presented pa-
tients with obstacles.

“Patients would walk inte gates
and be frustrated that they
couldn’t get through, or they
would walk into shrubs and end up
eating plants, some of which are
toxic.’”

With the new garden, everything
has been well thought out. The
shape conforms to a figure eight to
prevent patients from getting stuck
at gates. Plants are non-toxic and
walkways will be lined with rails
on one side, illuminated and tinted
grey to minimize glare.

Paterson found that patients
would often mistake glare for deep

a new retirement centre.
‘ Meet new friends and leave the
responsibility of everyday living to us!

A

to aid Alzheimer's patients

water or shadows and end up
avoiding the area.

The garden, Paterson says, will
also be a good place for staff to
observe patient behavior.

To that end, Paterson and a
University of British Columbia
professor plan to apply to National
Health and Welfare for a grant to
evaluate the Fshavior of patients
while in the garden.

It will be the first study of its
kind and is expected to make a
significant contribution to the
development of future health care
facilities.

The cost of the project will not
be known until tenders are receiv-
ed, but Paterson estimates it will
be approximately $40,000.

Cedarview will attempt to raise
the money through various events,
and pians to approach North
Shore service clubs for donations.
To date, the residents have held
two craft fairs to help fund the
garden,

If all goes according to plan,
construction will begin in January
1989 and will take three to four
months to complete.

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