The Kettering Health Senior Living Community in Miamisburg, Ohio started a new program this year — a community garden. The garden is run by its Green Thumb Club that tends to the varieties of fruits, vegetables, and flowers.
The raised beds contain tomatoes, zucchini, carrots, some beets and lots of flowers that bring in butterflies and pollinators. Gardening keeps residents active and there’s proven health benefits for seniors.
Soumya Nadella, a family medicine physician at Kettering Health Years Ahead, said it improves the use of motor and social skills and can lower the chances of strokes or other diseases.
“Gardening is an excellent hobby to adopt because it provides moderately intensive activity. Various studies have shown a reduction in cardiovascular risks from gardening,” Nadella said. “Other health benefits that studies have shown include reduction in risk of dementia, reduction of vitamin D deficiency, reduction of osteoporosis, and boosts to immune system.”
Senior resident Sally Fraser, a life-long gardener and member of the club, said the garden gets residents excited. She also said it’s been a good way to help new residents get settled in the community since it can be difficult being the new person.
“We had the new resident who's down the hall from me, see another resident trying to water. [She] can't lift the water can. And the hose is too heavy,” Fraser said. “So he volunteered to help her. And between the two of them, they've been watering and praying for rain.”
The community center does similar activities to keep residents active and independent. The garden gives residents a sense of purpose, Linda Shaver, the activity manager at the senior center, said.
“They had been avid gardeners in their own homes. And when they moved here, they were really, you know, missing that part of their life,” Shaver said. “It just gives them a sense of feeling like they're in charge of something and they have ownership of something that will benefit them.”
So far, the club of six is waiting for the tomatoes and zucchini to come in. They might use the veggies they grow as pizza toppings later this summer.
Alejandro Figueroa is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms.
