Wednesday, December 30, 1992 - North Shore News — 23

Cedarview Lodge’s Lenore Nicell

THE FADING years of the 20th century have seen a
rebirth of Joni Mitchell’s Walden-inspired sentiment of

‘*getting back to the land and setting your soul free.’”’

for nature lost
industri-

This search
within our
al-revolutionized senses has
spawned countless studies and
reports that add mounting evi-
dence to the theory that a physical
closeness with plants and animals
is good for the human condition.

Theory has turned into practice
at Cedarview Lodge, a North
Vancouver intermediate care facil-
ity that is home to a number of
Alzheimer’s patients.

Cedarview administrator Lenore
Nicell recently co-wrote a Univer-
sity of B.C. study that found
well-designed gardens have a
soothing effect on the sometimes
violent impulses of Alzheimer’s
sufferers.

The study is believed to be the
first te chronicle the relationship
between Alzheimer’s patients and

- specially designed garden en-
vironments.

Nicell and Patrick Mooney, a
professor of landscape architec-
ture, looked at five intermediate
care homes in B.C.

One home — Cedarview — had
a specially designed garden,
another had an accessible outdoor
garden and the remaining three
had no garden facilities.

During the two-year study, vio-
lent incidents dropped 20% at
Cedarview, while incidents of vio-
lence rose 681% at those homes

By A.P. McCredie
News Reporter

without gardens.

Although the study’s authors
cannot scientifically prove vegeta-
tion has a profound effect on
Alzheimer’s patients, their fin-
dings strongly link the two.

“In the institutions without
wardens, the level of incidents in
all categories indicated that the
lack of a garden environment has
a negative impact on_ resident
behavior and emotional state,”
reported Nicell.

The two most significant dif-
ferences in residents’ behavior in
exterior gardens were an increased
amount of time spent walking and
an ability to move through the
corridors and the garden without
confusion — a marked difference
from the behavior of residents
without access to a garden.

“Before the garden at Ceder-
view Lodge was modified, resi-
dents spent long periods indocrs,"*
added Nicel3.

The study includes new design
criteria for gardens in residential
care facilities.

Ideally, the report states, the
garden should be iocated at the
end of a corridor so that residents
can use both the indoor and out-
door areas as a continuous loop

NEWS phato Cindy Goodman

CEDARVIEW LODGE administrator Lenore Nicell recently co-authored a UBC study that found
well-designed gardens have a soothing effect on the sometimes violent impulses cf Alzheimer’s

sufferers.

so they are naturally led back to
the building entry.

Other design features that were
observed to improve residents’
emotional states include:

@ a central trellis and tree grove

which residents can use as a
landmark;

@ footpath
rails;

© plants that are non-toxic; and,

@ physical protection from sun

lighting and hand-

and wind.

Nicell believes that the findings
of the two-year study are just the
beginning of garden settings being
established in Alzheimer’s care fa-
cilities thre-sechout Canada.

wee kt

On behalf of the residents of the North Shore, we'd like to welcome all the babies born in 1992.
As a special tribute, the North Shore News will publish a 1992 Baby Aibum. Proud parents,
grandparents, aunts and uncles will want to make sure their newest family member is included.

The Baby Album may include a picture and wording from the original birth announcement, or
new wording and picture.

Publication date Wed. February 3

Ad deadline: Tues., January 26, noon

clip-out and send in along with your baby’s photo to the North Shore News (address below)
please write your baby's name on the back of the photo.

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CALL 986-6222

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aa rrr ane aae

~~ oon

COST: A. Photo plus 5 lines of copy .........$25

(1991 Album Participants)............$20

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WIN A BABY PORTRAIT PACKAGE!

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1992 Baby Album

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