April 14 is National Gardening Day. Research by Scotts Miracle-Gro and Wakefield Research found that in 2020, over half of the country, 55% of American households, engaged in gardening activities and another 20% were planning to do so in the near future.
Gardenpals.com adds that the pandemic created 18.3 million new gardeners in the United States. Blessing Health takes this time to salute the team of more than 60 volunteers who tend the Rotary Club/Lowe’s/Blessing Community Garden. Their tender-loving care makes a difference in the lives of people with diabetes. One of those volunteers is Sara Martin.
What do you get when you mix a love for the land with a passion for helping people? You get Sara Martin, APRN-FNP, Nurse Practitioner, in Blessing’s Family Medicine Department.
Born into a farming family - her parents continue to garden - Sara enjoys spending time with her family, tending to her home garden. What she doesn't grow at home, Sara purchases from local farms. It is important to her to know that the food she eats is fresh, and how it was grown and cared for. A healthy diet provides the foundation for a healthy life.
Sara also works with a team of Blessing volunteers who tend the Quincy Rotary Club/Lowe’s/Blessing Community Garden. Planted in the garden’s more than 30 grow boxes each season is a variety of produce that is provided free-of-charge to Blessing Diabetes Center patients. The program gives the patients convenient, no-cost access to healthy food to help manage their diabetes. Last year, the community garden produced nearly 300 pounds of fresh produce for patients.
The American Diabetes Association recommends following the “Diabetes Plate Method” as an easy way to teach nutritional changes to patients with diabetes. The Diabetes Plate Method encourages filling half of the plate with non-starchy vegetables, a quarter of the plate with starchy vegetables or fruit, and the other quarter of the plate with protein.
“Unfortunately, some patients have barriers that limit their ability to follow a diabetic diet, increasing their long term risks for complications due to poor control of their blood sugar,” Sara said. “For these patients, transportation to the grocery store and the cost of produce makes these recommended foods out of reach.”
“The Quincy Rotary Club/Lowe’s/Blessing Community Garden fills that need by providing hundreds of pounds of fruits and vegetables to our patients each season, allowing them to pick up produce from the Blessing Diabetes Center, and recipes that incorporate the produce, at their convenience,” she continued.
New in 2022, courtesy of Lowe’s, Blessing Diabetes Center patients were offered seed starting green houses and seeds at no cost.
“With these gardening kits, we are providing instructions on how to start the seeds, many of which are a variety intended for container gardening, to make it easier to grow their own garden anywhere,” Sara said.
“Being able to gift Blessing Diabetes Center patients with the ingredients for their favorite homemade salsa or salad is rewarding and important to help them achieve life-changing health improvements,” she concluded.
On behalf on Blessing Health and the patients of the Blessing Diabetes Center – thank you to the Quincy Rotary Club and Lowe’s and to everyone who volunteers to bring the Community Garden to life each season. Together we are improving the health of our communities.