In the therapeutic garden of Adoration, the elders have kept the memory of the gestures of the vegetable garden

Un jardin thérapeutique à l'Ehpad de l'Adoration. MIDI LIBRE – Michel Pieyre

Le jardin thérapeutique de l’Ehpad de l’Adoration à Mende, a été inauguré vendredi 6 septembre 2024. L’occasion de découvrir tomates, fleurs et potirons cultivés par les résidents pendant l’été.

In the magnificent park of the Ehpad l'Adoration in Mende, the therapeutic garden has taken its place since last spring, to the great delight of the staff and the 78 residents of the place. Friday, September 6, 2024, it was the official inauguration in the presence of elected officials, managers and staff of the retirement home.

The gardens of Lozère

In the custom-made wooden boxes, flowers, fruits and vegetables happily bicker. The wonderful vegetable garden explodes with a thousand colors, pampered by the little hands of the elders, there are a good dozen of them participating. Gestures that they have repeated many times in their lives and that are gradually returning.

“I was president of the Department when Adoration received assistance from the CFPPA (Centre for professional training and agricultural promotion), finances allocated to support autonomy. These are funds managed by the Department“, explained Sophie Pantel, now a member of parliament for Lozère. 

Therapeutic gardens exist in Lozère, particularly with integration structures. Also at the Réjal nursing home in Ispagnac. The families have mobilized and created an association to perpetuate the initiative. Around 8,000 euros are needed to launch the project, with staff trained in the development of the garden. “The first gardens in Lozère were created at the François-Tosquelles hospital in Saint-Alban-sur-Limagnole.”

A trained teaching team

Ingrid Dandeville is a clinical psychologist and has taken charge of the gardening workshop at Adoration: “I trained as a landscaper, on therapeutic gardening, to offer my services to establishments.” For her, horticultural therapy is a complementary treatment: “In a rural area, it could only work.” The success is there, before the eyes of the residents. Each tank has been carefully designed so that residents in wheelchairs can access it. “I take care of the animation part, with 17 sessions here. But at the Villa Saint-Jean in Bourgs-sur-Colagne, we are at the 125th with 80% of the residents participating”, specifies the therapist.

Participants chose the varieties of flowers. MIDI LIBRE – Michel Pieyre

The workshops last at least three hours, once a week: “The project must be visible in the long term” for people suffering from memory disorders or degenerative diseases. We started in March with seedlings. The residents chose the plants and flowers”, Ingrid Dandeville emphasizes. Then Roselyne Durand, coordinating nurse at the nursing home, completes the workforce: “We will harvest at the end of summer in order to create winter workshops. For example, flowers for dried bouquets." 

Aromatic plants for herbal teas, soups with vegetables from the garden, seeds and seedlings have what it takes to fuel a good mood. "We manage to reconnect fragile people with the cycle of nature and revive old memories. To live, they need projects, the nurse insists again. In some residents, we have noticed a decrease in anxiolytics."

"It reminds me of home"

Cyril Lascaray, the director of the nursing home, is delighted: "The teams are looking for activities that make sense. The garden is a suitable medium, it makes sense, with supervisors. The result is there. We will make soup together, it will be an event. A little extra life. And everything is organic, with the manure from our animals!"

Gisèle Dumas, 86, is a resident and supports the project: “I'm enjoying it and it's interesting. It reminds me of my house in Serverette. In the past, we grew leeks, carrots, potatoes, cabbages, rhubarb and roses." Gisèle goes to marvel at the plants every day while waiting for the Thursday workshop. "I admire this bouquet of daisies", she says, with a smile like a sun.

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