The shade of a tree, the green of the leaves, the scent of the flowers, the sound of the water. In a word, the power of nature to evoke distant memories and reassure the soul of those who have many years of experience behind them and today live with forms of dementia. It’s called a therapeutic garden: the ‘botanical route’ is being tested in various parts of the world and scientific literature has also accumulated on the beneficial effect of greenery, for example on the elderly with dementia. The ‘La Provvidenza’ Institute of Busto Arsizio (Varese) has rekindled the spotlight on this green experience and recently inaugurated its therapeutic garden.
“The action of care and protection involves not only people, but also building and urban spaces – explains the director Luca Edoardo Trama, presenting the sense of the initiative – And the living environment of patients of various types of dementia needs to be tailored to their needs.” Even the eye wants and can do its part, he assures. “The functional and aesthetic quality of ad hoc spaces, both closed and open, plays a decisive role, not only because it supports the development of therapeutic programs, but because it constantly recalls the value and inviolability of each person, recognizing their dignity together with those who take care of it. The creation of our therapeutic garden was born from these needs”.
Local authorities and guests and visitors of the Institute were present for the ribbon cutting. The objectives that it is hoped to achieve with the help of ‘green power’ are: “Reducing behavioral problems and in particular space-time disorientation, attempts to escape, purposeless wandering and catastrophic reactions – lists Trama – reduce the use of psychoactive drugs and the use of restraints; slow down the decline of functional capacities; stimulate residual capacities; stimulate patients’ remote memory of their previous activities, such as growing vegetables, tending flowers, walking in the garden ; compensate for the cognitive and functional deficits caused by dementia”.
The garden is structured as a guided path, “within which people suffering from any type of dementia can move freely and without danger. The ideal guide is represented by nature: those who visit it and stop there come into contact with the different colors and aromas of the various species of plants present”, says the director of the Institute. There is a need for “a safe environment and appropriate mental and physical stimulation, so our design for the garden requires respect for some components”.
In the first place the vegetation: there are several species recognizable by the color and scent of the flowers. Then there are some areas where you can stop, some larger and shaded, others with benches around the perimeter, in order to encourage meetings and collective recreational activities. All in a “single, simple and rounded path, in order to increase the safety of guests and reinforce their sense of familiarity”. Every detail counts, assures the expert. The driveways have been paved with soft colors, and are non-slip and non-reflecting, equipped with safety handrails, to allow safe walking and visual well-being. The landmarks are designed, Trama points out, “in order to stimulate memory capacities and spatial orientation, which are generally compromised”.
And then, among the natural elements on which we focus is water: the sound of flowing water “represents an important auditory stimulus in the archive of memory”, reasons Trama. The garden is also protected with a fence camouflaged by plant species or wooden fences, to avoid instilling a sense of closure. “It’s a project we’ve invested a lot in,” she concludes.
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