The Healing Garden at Kernan Hospital provides a unique environment for patients, families, staff and visitors. It has been designed as a therapeutic tool for teaching our patients how to deal with physical challenges as they transition into the community, and renew interest in the leisure activity of gardening.

This unique therapy opportunity enhances patients' cognitive and physical skills for maneuvering around their home and community environment once they leave the hospital. It offers visitors and families space to relax in a beautiful, quiet, natural setting. Employees can explore personal needs for relaxation or revitalization in a quiet, contemplative setting.

Studies have shown links between patients' physical enivironments and their ability to manage pain and heal. Utilizing this harmonious balance between body and mind, the garden stimulates one's visual, auditory and olfactory senses through the choice of plants, sound and color.

Various ground patterns and textures were incorporated to challenge patients' mobility skills and prepare them for their return to the community. The garden works in tandem with western medicine, imbuing it with beauty, serenity and a more holistic apporach.

 

---

You DO NOT need to enter the hospital to get to the garden.  When I entered the hospital and asked about the garden at the front desk the person manning the desk said you needed to be a patient or have other business at the facility to access the garden.

THIS IS NOT CASE, HOWEVER.  Per the qualifications for the TKD grants, the space must be open and accessible for a reasonable amount of daily usage that will effectively activate and accommodate the community within the parameters of the vision the project was conceived. Dawn to dusk is usual and customary. Some grantees have added lighting to extend usage times.

Still, you won't have to worry about any confusion about this, if you use the listed parking coordinates.

---

Logging Requirement:  Visit the site in person.  Sign the TDK Guest Book found under the bench at the listed coordinates.  You will also need to enter a Log Password to claim this cache.   Locate the informational sign that titled "Welcom to the Healing Garden at Kernan Hospital".  Look at the plan of the garden.  There are three words desribing area "F".  The middle word is the Log Password.

Photos of your visit are also greatly appreciated.

---

This bench and journal was placed as part of the Sacred Spaces program of theTKF Foundation, which has helped develop such places in the Baltimore, Washington and Annapolis areas.

---

 

Find caches nearby on OC US (radius 100 mi): All  Searchable   
Find Geocaches on:  Geocaching.com    TerraCaching.com   Navicache.com    GPSgames.org   

Download as File: GPX GPX GC LOC KML OV2 OVL TXT WPT XML