El Mostrador | An unprecedented study will seek to determine the social impact of Healing Gardens in healthcare facilities.

Healing Gardens are natural spaces within health facilities or shelters designed to promote and improve the health and quality of life of their users, providing spaces for recreation, relaxation, and rest, as well as a place and connection with nature for psychological, physical, and occupational therapies.

That’s why, with the goal of demonstrating the social impact generated by natural spaces within the country’s health and therapeutic care centers, Alberto Hurtado University and the Cosmos Foundation signed a collaboration agreement to obtain concrete data on the benefits of these spaces.

The scientific study of its benefits dates back more than 40 years, with patients in Europe and the USA. The implementation of each of these spaces involves different stages, including a social, clinical, and physical assessment of the area to be treated, which allows for the definition of the area’s needs and capabilities, with the participation of the entire hospital community, including staff, patients, and family members.

To date, and thanks to public and private contributions, the Cosmos Foundation has developed a total of 15 Healing Gardens in four regions of the country and within nine healthcare institutions and long-stay residences, including: San Borja Arriarán Clinical Hospital, Barros Luco Trudeau Hospital, Hogar del Pequeño Cottolengo, Hospital del Salvador de Valparaíso, Hospital del Salvador, among others.

Specifically, the study will be divided into three stages: updating the intervention model for these sites, which dates back to 2018, based on newly available information; evaluating processes, such as diagnostics and participatory activities carried out in these spaces; and assessing the impact of the gardens to determine improvements in community well-being, measuring the number of natural areas intervened and the total.
of beneficiaries, among other statistical data, which considers methodologies such as interviews, workshops and observations.

This is to generate empirical evidence on the real impact of these spaces on the communities in the areas where they have been implemented.

“The results of this study will provide us with key and necessary inputs to leverage the formulation of public policies applied to
“The design of hospital infrastructure, in such a way as to incorporate the healing role of nature and return hospitality to hospitals,” commented Diego Urrejola, executive director of the Cosmos Foundation.

With the results of the study, the organizations are seeking to incorporate nature as a health infrastructure into the country’s public policies.