LEBANON — Onions, potatoes, peas, summer squash and zucchini might make regular appearances at the farmers market, but now they also can be found sprouting from the ground at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center.
Through a collaboration with the Norwich-based nonprofit Willing Hands, a quarter-acre portion of undeveloped property between a parking lot and the child care center at DHMC is now being devoted to the cultivation of vegetables for Upper Valley food pantries.
This is the “first step in what we all hope is a bigger project,” said Gabe Zoerheide, Willing Hands’ executive director.
If expansion plans come to fruition, the “Farmacy” garden will grow to approximately 2 acres and include perennials such as raspberries, blueberries and apples. In addition to feeding people through food pantries, officials’ long-term plan is to make food grown on-site available to patients and staff.
The DHMC site is one of two new gardens Willing Hands has undertaken this year with assistance from volunteers. The other is at the nonprofit’s new location off Route 5 in Norwich. A third garden at the nonprofit Cedar Circle Farm in East Thetford has been under cultivation for more than 10 years.
For the hospital, the effort fits in with a broader push to “address nonclinical factors that affect the health of our community,” said Chelsey Canavan, a coordinator with D-H’s population health team.
Approximately 9% of New Hampshire households are considered food-insecure and may not know where their next meal is coming from, according to the United States Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service. Increasing access to fruits and vegetables for those people is part of D-H’s efforts to address factors that affect people’s health but that don’t traditionally fit into the range of issues treated by clinicians, Canavan said. Others in D-H’s sights include increasing access to affordable housing and transportation, she said.
To identify patients who may be struggling with access to healthy food, Canavan said, clinicians now ask patients if food access is an issue for them. D-H’s pediatric practices have teamed up with the Upper Valley Haven to offer boxes of food to patients who may otherwise go hungry.
As the garden’s name implies, the Farmacy might play a role in patients’ health care by helping to ward off or manage certain chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and some cancers, Canavan said. Nutrition can also play a role in helping to address behavioral health issues such as addiction, she said.
The effort is supported at least in part by a $25,000 grant for Willing Hands from the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation.
The goal in supporting such efforts through the foundation’s Healthy Food Fund is to “have healthier people and healthier communities,” said Henny Mulatre, a foundation program officer.
Aside from providing food for people in need, the effort also offers a convenient volunteer opportunity for D-H employees.
On Tuesday afternoon, amid bright sunshine, a summer breeze, singing birds and an occasional shout from the nearby child care center, eight volunteers hammered fence posts for peas, pulled weeds and moved dirt around the quarter-acre patch that is enclosed in a wire fence to keep out critters such as deer, woodchucks and bears.
The effort got them away from their desks and the fluorescent lights of the hospital and out with both familiar and unfamiliar colleagues.
“It’s a nice day,” volunteer Nicole LaBombard, a member of D-H’s community health team, said as she dragged a hoe between neat rows of potatoes. “It’s fun to get out of the office.”
The organizations will celebrate the new garden with an event there on July 16 from 5 to 7 p.m. The garden is located at DHMC north of Lot 20 and south of the child care center, which sits next to David’s House. Parking is at the child care center, which can be accessed from Loop Road.
More information about volunteering can be found online at willinghands.org/help-us/volunteer.
Nora Doyle-Burr can be reached at ndoyleburr@vnews.com or 603-727-3213.