St. Tammany Health System care providers put their healing hands to work Friday – but not in the way you might expect.
Trading their surgical gloves for garden gloves, a group of STHS doctors, nurses and administrators were among the 40 or so volunteers pitching in to install a community garden on the Safe Haven behavioral health campus in Mandeville.
The garden is a keystone project of Healthier Northshore – a coalition of community groups united by a common interest in improving local population health measures – and is intended to be the first of multiple similar community gardens to go up in the area.
“A garden like this brings obvious nutritional benefits, of course,” St. Tammany Health System’s Dr. Mike Hill said. “But gardening is also good for you from a mental health standpoint, getting out in the sun and the fresh air. So this garden really addresses both physical health and mental health at the same time.”
In addition to St. Tammany Health System, other groups providing physical and financial support for Friday’s build were Kent Design Build, Ochsner, St. Tammany Master Gardeners, RCI, NAMI St. Tammany, Chevron, Safe Haven and Target.
The garden, consisting of three raised beds planted with a variety of herbs and vegetables, will be tended and harvested by behavioral health clients living on the Safe Haven campus.
“And this is just Phase 1,” said St. Tammany Health System Outreach Coordinator Anne Pablovich, a leader of the garden project. “We’re hoping to build it out in the future with additional beds, maybe a greenhouse, seating.”
With sunny skies and moderate temperatures, Friday brought picture-perfect weather for Friday’s build, which started around 8 a.m. and continued through a lunch of pizza provided to volunteers.
STHS President and CEO Joan Coffman said the project illustrates precisely why the Healthier Northshore initiative was started back in September 2020.
“Healthier Northshore was really envisioned to be that community resource to advance the quality of life for area residents. This is a perfect example of that,” Coffman said.
For Monique Gregory, a community outreach specialist for NAMI St. Tammany, the local branch of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the project is also something of a dream come true.
“I’ve been here five years, and I can say that from the first day, this community garden has been a dream of ours,” Gregoire said. “So, thanks for giving us support. Thanks for giving us hope.”