When older adults have access to nature and a sense of the “wild,” they experience better mental, physical, and social health. But access to outdoor spaces and wildlife can be limited for residents of assisted living, skilled nursing, and memory care facilities, so horticulturalists from the Butterfly Pavilion created the Healthy Habitats Gardening program to bring outdoor experiences to residents.
With support from Next50 Initiative, Butterfly Pavilion, the first Association of Zoos and Aquariums-accredited, stand-alone, non-profit invertebrate zoo in the world, was able to expand the program, bringing the joys of gardening and engaging with wildlife to older adults in more care facilities. Program participants learn about pollinator gardening, work with staff to plant a habitat garden, and raise and release butterflies into their garden.
“These small pockets of habitat are often the only link older adults residing in care facilities have to the outdoors, to their histories with gardens and the earth, and to the opportunity to care for something,” said Ashley White, Community Habitats Manager at Butterfly Pavilions.
As the program has grown, staff and volunteers have learned they must adapt the program to the unique needs of residents in each facility and were grateful that the flexible nature of the funding allowed them to do that, as needed. “The residents are colorful and wildly unique in each community,” said White, “and care should be given colorfully and uniquely, accordingly.”
To read this and other stories of how Next50 Initiative grant dollars had a positive impact on older adults in 2022, please visit our 2022 Impact Report.