We all know the importance of getting outdoors. The fresh air and exercise is great for the mind, body and soul, so you can imagine how crucial it is to havegreen spaces within cities that are accessible to all.
The outdoors holds so many benefits to us on a normal day, now imagine you were going through rehabilitation in hospital, visiting a sick loved one or you're a member of staff working round the clock to look after patients. It's easy to see how even a small green space could offer much needed respite and refreshment, and that is exactly whatthe Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham (QEHB) charity have created. A safe space encased in nature, to take you away from inner city troubles and provide an accessible place for everyone to benefit from.
Not only have QEHB provided the green space, but they also run workshops and socials for the public, patients and hospital staff to all get involved in, so when Roisin got in touch with us at the Alpkit Foundation to ask for help funding supplies for the workshops, we were more than happy to lend a helping hand.
Roisin told us,
"The Green Spaces is a project that aims to engage both the patients here at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham and the general public with the beautiful outdoor spaces the hospital has to offer. The hospital is situated on an ancient roman monument fort so it must be preserved. A Green Spaces coordinator, Glenn, runs weekly Green Gym sessions improving physical wellbeing whilst also running weeding, planting, gardening and conservation sessions that help improve mental wellbeing as people can enjoy fresh air and escape a clinical environment.
The QEHB is one of the largest hospitals in the country and a centre of excellence for Cancer Care transplants trauma the Home of the Royal centre of Defence Medicine and the UKs only Adult Centre for Rare Diseases. Our Green spaces coordinator currently leads weekly outdoor grow sessions for patients and staff to be able to attend. The sessions include light gardening work, seed making, bird box making and even orchard pruning. The green spaces coordinator also runs sessions open to the local community such as Dawn chorus walks, Dusk chorus walks and bird watching walks which have been a huge success.
As the Green Spaces are such a calming peaceful environment we also offer volunteering opportunities to local universities, schools and businesses to encourage the benefits of being outdoors. So far we have received incredible feedback from participants on the benefit to not only their physical health but also their mental health. As the sessions are accessible for all patients and staff it has been great to see so many people join together and enjoy the great outdoors whilst also learning new skills, building confidence and making friends."
We couldn't be happier to be supporting such a worthy cause.