Dr. Robert Andalon dreams of having a garden one day. This garden will be filled with cacti and succulents, all his favorite plants of the Southwest. He’ll plant tomatoes and onions, cilantro and garlic and jalapenos too—he loves to cook, and these are all his favorite vegetables. He pictures how joyful it will be to put hand to soil again, and to remember the pleasures of growing living things. “Plants,” he says, “are a source of respite for me.”
Dr. Andalon doesn’t have a garden yet. Over the last three years, he’s been immersed in the rigors of his internal medicine residency training at MLK Community Healthcare. As a resident, his life was dictated by rotations across different specialties, from nephrology to rheumatology, and across different healthcare settings, from hospital medicine to street medicine, which sometimes required him to commute to different hospitals across Los Angeles. Living in an apartment in the city combined with the demands of training have left him with little space or time to start his garden. Instead, Dr. Andalon is bringing his dream of gardens, and all the benefits they bring, to his patients.
The program he’s started aims to identify patients who might benefit from a community garden prescription. The research is clear—gardening can lead to an abundance of health benefits. Planting requires digging, bending over, and moving sometimes heavy objects. Maintaining the garden involves pulling weeds on hands and knees. All these activities require physical exertion. On the emotional side, being outside under the sun can be a form of mindfulness, while touching soil, taking care of plants, and connecting to others in a gardening community brings joy and comfort. Sometimes, these are the things that can make all the difference in a patient’s health.