Rx Gardens Program

Organization: Growing Gardens in partnership with Providence Milwaukie Hospital

Program Overview

Rx Gardens expands Spanish-speaking support at Providence Milwaukie Hospital's Garden of Giving and Community Teaching Kitchen. The program encourages connections between health, gardening, and community, using gardening as a preventative healthcare practice. Future goal: doctors will prescribe time in the garden as an official health intervention.

Geographic Scope

• Milwaukie, Oregon
• Providence Milwaukie Hospital location

Program History

• Launched: 2022
• First Year Results: 2,000 pounds of produce grown

Gardening Workshops

• Frequency: Four series of six-week workshops throughout the year
• Languages: English and Spanish
• Cost: Free and open to anyone
• Topics: Transplanting, growing from seeds, harvesting, pruning, cover cropping
• Audience: First-time gardeners welcome
• Teaching Philosophy:

- No commercial fertilizers or pesticides
- Sustainable and accessible methods
- All plants and insects have value in appropriate contexts
- Learning from experience
- Indoor and houseplant gardening included

• Approach: Participatory—ask participants what they want to learn

Cooking & Culinary Classes

• Taught by: Dieticians from Providence Milwaukie and chefs
• Languages: Spanish-taught classes
• Cost: Free
• Focus: Cooking for diabetes prevention with culturally relevant approach
• Key Feature: Participants harvest produce from garden themselves
• Philosophy: Integrate active lifestyle and time outdoors into cooking practice
• Referral: Some participants referred by doctors; open to public

Volunteering

• Schedule: Open volunteer hours Thursdays 5-7 PM
• Location: Garden of Giving (Providence Milwaukie Hospital)
• Experience Required: None
• Tasks: Replacing boxes, weeding, cleaning, harvesting
• Philosophy: Emphasizes reciprocal relationship between garden and community; educational experience; learning from mistakes

Health & Wellness Philosophy

• Preventative Healthcare: Focuses on upstream causes of health issues and social determinants of health
• Benefits: Food access, outdoor exercise, emotional/spiritual well-being
• Holistic Approach: Walking, relaxing, and eating well as preventative practices
• Cultural Relevance: Central to understanding health; acknowledges gardening in different climates and learning from new seasonal changes

Future Plans

• Dietician appointments held in garden setting
• Psychiatry appointments in garden
• Community Teaching Kitchen classes offered outside
• More dynamic, open connection between garden and hospital operations

Contact Information

• Partnership Coordinator: Roma Leiva
• Organization Address: 3114 SE 50th Ave, Portland, OR 97206
• Phone: 503-284-8420
• Hospital Location: Providence Milwaukie Hospital, Garden of Giving