Inova Mount Vernon is recognized with award.
Inova Mount Vernon Hospital’s therapeutic recreation team won a $3,000 grant to continue building the horticultural therapy program at the hospital. From left: Ginger Myers, PT; Jan Lane, HTR; and recreational therapists Paula Berntsen, Ted Denning and Maria Bruce.
The Therapeutic Garden Grant is a philanthropic program of the National Garden Bureau dedicated to supporting therapeutic gardens across North America. Inova Mount Vernon Hospital’s horticultural therapy program is one of only a few programs in the Northern Virginia region.
“Horticultural therapy is a unique program within our renowned inpatient rehabilitation center,” said Roberta Tinch, MHA, FACHE, President of Inova Mount Vernon Hospital and Administrator of Inova’s musculoskeletal services. “Over the years, the program has evolved from a small raised garden to a therapeutic pavilion, where multidisciplinary teams of therapists use gardening tasks to work on individual patient goals. It is just one of the many programs we offer our rehabilitation patients to help them regain the skills needed to return to their fullest lives.”
Inova Mount Vernon Hospital’s horticultural therapy program started in June 2019 as part of the therapeutic recreation department and in partnership with Jan Lane, HTR, of GardenLane, LLC. Horticultural therapy is a weekly, year-round program that centers on the ways in which plants and nature relate to a patient's experience in rehabilitation and healing. This grant funding will go toward helping to procure equipment and supplies needed to grow the horticultural program and improve the outdoor garden space.
“Horticultural therapy offers patients a number of benefits including improved memory, cognitive abilities, task initiation, language skills and socialization. It can also help strengthen muscles and improve coordination, balance and endurance,” Lane said. “It is a joy to see patients get such a sense of accomplishment as they work to complete a project and make progress toward their therapeutic goals as well.”