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The OGC PNM team is a multi-faceted team that assumes a holistic, gestalt view of their ICF clients, and recognizes the overlap in care that occurs between their respective disciplines. In keeping with this philosophy, PNM therapists Allison Curtis, RD, Lucy Stokely, OT, and Keisha Witcher, COTA, turned their love of gardening into a learning experience for several ICF clients, by creating a fruit, vegetable, herb and flower garden outside of the PNM office called, The Garden Project.
Left: Ed Winton enjoys the "vegetables" of his labor. Right: OT Lucy Stokely and RD Allison Curtis lead visiting COTA students in breaking ground on one of the garden plots.
Left to right: Keisha Witcher, COTA assists Tink McAllister with planting tomato plants. OT Lucy Stokely and Ed Winton hold the baking pan, while Gloria Johnson uses an adaptive switch to pour the zucchini bread batter. Clint Thomas and Allison Curtis, RD, helps with cleanup in the background. RD Allison Curtis and OT Lucy Stokely assist Jordan LaGraff in mixing the batter for homemade zucchini bread.
The Garden Project achieves several goals. From a dietary standpoint clients get to participate in the whole life-cycle of their food, from seed to harvest and get practice in identifying fruits and vegetables. The participating clients cycle through several times a week to reap their bounty. All foods retrieved from the garden are sent home with the client along with a recipe or instructions for preparation. From an occupational therapy standpoint digging, watering and harvesting allow clients to use their hands in a functional way, not to mention the sensory input from the different textures experienced in the garden.
Left to right: Ed Winton being assisted with planting a tomato plant. Joanne Pierce enjoys fresh zucchini bread, cut to her specific mealtime texture, and served with the appropriate adaptive mealtime equipment.
Every couple of weeks, Allison, Lucy and Keisha host a garden party for the clients wherein all participants can come together and enjoy the fruits and veggies of their labor. One of the most famous of these parties was a celebration of their bounty zucchini where participating clients prepared and then ate zucchini bread.
"The garden has been a marvelous success and provides a great opportunity for clients to learn and be social," says Stokely.
-Compiled by Julie Cain and Jamie McDaniel of PNM.
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