MY WRITTEN WORKS
Horticulture student, caretaker gives back through work with Healing Garden
Loren Puche spends an average of two hours each day in the Horticulture Complex’s greenhouses on Northwest’s campus caring for the variety of plants by watering and keeping an eye out for various pests. Puche will graduate in May with a horticulture degree.
Last updated Friday, March 22, 2019
Maryville, MO
A Northwest Missouri State University student is leading a project with SSM Health St. Francis to give back to local cancer patients and caretakers in the form of a Healing Garden.
This comes two years after experiencing a cancer journey firsthand, serving as a caretaker for a cancer patient very close to her—her mother.
Horticulture Club President Loren Puche and her organization have volunteered to raise plants for the Healing Garden coming soon to St. Francis’ Cancer Center. Puche said she hopes this will bring joy to patients and caretakers for years to come, as they experience their own journeys. Her mother, Maryville native Kara Puche, is a breast cancer survivor and St. Francis Cancer Care Committee member.
This committee works to help local individuals as they experience a cancer journey and approached the Horticulture Club last fall about the project. This followed Kara Puche’s mention to the committee of her daughter as a horticulture major, and suggestion of going to her for advice during the garden’s planning process. It then snowballed into the club volunteering to order, raise and plant the plants.
The Healing Garden will serve cancer patients, family members, caretakers and St. Francis employees. Loren Puche said she thinks being able to look out the window and see flowers, butterflies and hummingbirds will make people smile. Kara Puche said the garden will allow individuals to escape from the sound of the machines, providing a place for people to find peace, cry, sing or do anything that may help them through a difficult time or decision.
“I was born and raised here,” Kara Puche said. “Long after I’m gone, it (Healing Garden) is going to be here and that kind of makes me feel good, that I’m gonna leave my mark.”
Loren Puche said members of the Horticulture Club were excited upon first hearing about the project. She feels very humbled to be a part of it, because she was not sure a group as small as hers would be so willing to help with such a large project. The club is used to raising plants for Maryville’s community garden, although the Healing Garden is much larger.
“If it makes patients happy, then that makes me ten times happier,” Loren Puche said, “because I’m making a difference in a positive way while they’re going through this difficult time.”
Image Courtesy of SSM Health St. Francis
The Healing Garden will feature a sidewalk, benches, fountain and various flowers and shrubs. A brick walkway will be added, allowing the purchase of bricks to honor loved ones and provide extra funding for the project. A new drop off area is also being constructed for the Cancer Center. This will shorten the distance cancer patients must walk when arriving to and leaving appointments, as well as creating more privacy for the patients.
The progression of the garden will depend on the weather, as construction on the area cannot begin until the ground thaws. Loren Puche said she hopes the garden will be ready for the plants before the semester ends and the club’s members leave Maryville for the summer.
Director of Development for St. Francis Hospital Foundation Megan Jennings said the Cancer Care Committee and St. Francis family are thrilled about the Horticulture Club’s involvement in the project.
“Gardens can really flourish when they have someone maintaining them properly,” Jennings said. “This will look good for many years to come thanks to the support of another great community organization.”