SANTA CRUZ — This Earth Day, the Dominican Hospital Healing Garden celebrated its 22nd year feeding hospital patrons and Santa Cruz community members.
The idea for the garden sprouted in 2004 from former employees Jaime Ortiz and Michael Raciti, who had the idea to plant a few herbs outside the cafeteria. The garden eventually bloomed into a 9,000-square-foot space with fruit trees, herbs and over 10 different fruits and vegetables.
Sister Mary Ellen Leciejewski, system vice president of environmental sustainability for CommonSpirit Health, helped establish the garden and has been its manager since its inception.
“If the volunteers are here, then we just invite people in and they say how good it makes them feel,” she said.
The produce from the garden is donated to Dignity Health Dominican Hospital’s cafeteria, as well as local nonprofit Grey Bears, which uses it to help community members who are food-insecure, Leciejewski said. It is estimated that the hospital has donated over 40,000 pounds of food from the garden since its inception, according to Dominican Hospital.
The 9,000-square-foot garden houses fruit trees, herbs and a wide array of fruits and vegetables. (Courtesy CommonSpirit Health)
The garden grows tomatoes, carrots, bell peppers, beets, onions, daikon, cabbage, cauliflower, lettuce, radishes, summer squash, strawberries, garlic, thyme, basil, cilantro and rosemary, as well as apples, peaches, guavas, lemons, figs, persimmons and cherry trees, according to Dominican Hospital.
If there is a particularly large harvest, Leciejewski said the garden’s volunteers also donate to Dominican Oaks retirement community and the Boys and Girls Clubs.
Over the years, the garden saw volunteers from Dominican Hospital staff, UC Santa Cruz students and Soquel High School students. Presently, three people tend to the garden, though during the harvest season, nine additional volunteers from around Dominican Hospital came out to help.
The garden hosted a plant giveaway on Wednesday, and Leciejewski said over 150 people came to visit the garden and get free plants on Earth Day.
“We love the Earth every day, hopefully, and we want to show how grateful we are,” she said. “There’s got to be one day that we focus on it, because then that carries us through the rest of the year. We cannot take it for granted.”
Volunteers stand in the garden after harvesting its produce for donation. (Courtesy CommonSpirit Health)
The event was one of several local initiatives from Dignity Health promoting sustainability and environmental awareness, as Dignity Health aims to reduce its environmental footprint and create a healthier future, according to a statement from the nonprofit. CommonSpirit Health is the parent organization of Dignity Health, which Dominican Hospital has been a member of since 1988.
The garden serves as a demonstration of the importance of healthy food for a healthy body, due to its location at Dominican Hospital, Leciejewski said.
“We need to realize that if we don’t have a healthy planet, we are not going to have a healthy human being,” she said.
Leciejewski is a part of the Adrian Dominican Sisters, whose motto is “Seek truth, make peace, reverence life.” She said a part of reverencing life is not only about human life such as the patients seen in the hospital, but also about the creatures in nature and in the soil.
The garden also acts as a serene space for hospital visitors. In particular, Leciejewski said that family members of patients use the garden as a safe place for tranquility and relief.
The garden can be a space for hospital patients and family to relax and connect with nature, Leciejewski said. (Courtesy CommonSpirit Health)
“They want to come out and just breathe and relax,” she said. “This is the place to do it. Nature is just so very healing and this is one way we can demonstrate that as well.”
Leciejewski said the garden is close to her heart because she grew up intertwined with nature. She said she hopes kids and young people can enjoy the garden and the environment as much as she did, so she wants to maintain its health into the future.
“I just want to spend my time celebrating and enjoying it and taking care of it and doing that with others,” Leciejewski said.
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