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GARDENING:
A West Van care centre’s new garden is a tranquil place for patients to stroll, chat and relax

BY STEVE WHYSALL
VANCOUVER SUN

For Kerry McPhedran, one of saddest aspects of seeing her mom suffer from Alzheimer’s disease was knowing how frustrated she felt that she could not get outside and walk freely in a garden.

“She loved gardening. She loved to be with me at my garden. But when she went into the care centre there was nowhere for her to walk.”

McPhedran’s mom, Vivian Anderson, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s when she was 80 in 1994 but there had been a lot of signs of slowly increasing dementia before then.

“I remember once we were sitting in a line up at the ferry and my mom was staring at me with a puzzled look on her face.

“I asked her if there was something wrong and she said, ‘You and me? We are related?’ I told her I was her daughter and she was so relieved.”

By 2000, McPhedran’s mom was not able to look after herself and was admitted to the Manor at Inglewood Care Centre, off Taylor Way in West Vancouver.

Immediately, she was distressed by her new environment and was especially perturbed by the restrictions on her movements.

“Here was a person who had lived on her own for over 30 years and all of a sudden she was with 50 complete strangers and three changes in staff a day,” says McPhedran.

“There was a little concrete patio, but unless I went and took her out or I hired a companion to take her out, she couldn’t go outside.”

The pressure of these living arrangements was too much for Anderson. She repeatedly found a way to escape and take the bus to Granville and 70th where she went to a White Spot restaurant for tea and mashed potatoes.


The police always arrived to take her back. “She would see them coming and say ‘Oh, dear’ and start to cry. But the police were very kind. They once pretended to be mom’s grandchildren. That was very thoughtful,” says McPhedran.

Unfortunately, her mom’s trips outdoors earned her a reputation as “a wanderer” and a red dot on her door to warn staff.

For her own safety and protection she was given a “wanderguard” which automatically sounded an alarm if she ever went near the door.

The sound of the alarm only added to her distress and her feelings of being imprisoned, says McPhedran, who lives only a short distance from the Inglewood Centre.

Sally Sapinsky, whose father, Ray Claydon, was also in Inglewood, was equally frustrated by the situation.

Claydon, who had lived much of his life on a ranch in the Kamloops area and had a lifelong love of the outdoors and gardening, often felt trapped by his new circumstances.

“All he wanted to do was walk, walk, walk,” says Sapinsky. “But there was no safe place for him to walk except through the halls. One of my frustrations was not having a relaxing place for us to walk and enjoy the outdoors.”

In 2001, McPhedran and Sapinsky got together with Wilma Atchison, Inglewood’s co-ordinator of leisure services, to find a solution.

They hit on the idea of converting a soggy, under-used grassy area next to the Manor into a lovely stroll-garden.

Enclosed and secure, the garden could provide the Alzheimer’s and dementia patients with a safe environment where they could once again experience the freedom and beauty of being outdoors.

McPhedran’s friend, Jennifer Gaze, suggested that Vancouver landscape architect Jonathan Losee might be persuaded to design the garden for free. Losee was asked and he agreed to do the job. (Moreover, he turned up later on with his colleague, Camille Sleeman, to help with the planting.)

In 2003 McPhedran, Sapinsky and Gaze began asking for financial support and within a year they had succeeded in raising $50,000.

Inglewood Residents Council got the ball rolling with a gift of $10,000, some families of residents made generous donations, and the owners of the Inglewood facility gave $1 for every $2 raised.

Support also came from various other community groups and businesses including Capilano Kiwanis Club, Sudbury Cedar, and Home Hardware.

In September 2003, the old sodden lawn area was zipped out and new drainage installed. Planting beds were filled with soil, new turf was laid to create a future putting-green area, concrete was poured to make a circular stroll-path (wide enough for wheelchairs and walkers) and cedar fences were built.

“To me, the fences looked massive when they first went in,” says McPhedran. “I was a little alarmed. I didn’t want the garden to feel like a prison yard, but people assured me that when plants went in the foliage and flowers would soften the look.”

On May 1 this year, the garden was finally planted.

One of the team who turned up to help was Jennifer Gaze’s husband, Christopher, the artistic director of Bard on the Beach (and the hilarious Dogberry in the current production of Much Ado About Nothing.)

In no time at all, the empty landscape was turned into a lush garden.

“We didn’t want it to look like a park,” says McPhedran. “We wanted it to be more like a normal backyard garden — a place where residents could relax and find a place to be alone or sit and chat with a familiar face.”

The plant list included such trees as katsura, star magnolia, and apple. Lilacs were a must, says McPhedran, since they were one of her mom’s favourites.

Room was also found for pink hydrangeas, viburnum, whitescented Mexican orange blossom, spirea, and much more.

Perennials used to fill gaps included peonies, daylilies, heuchera and iris along with dense drifts of rudbeckia. Roses were tucked in here and there and spots were found for vines like clematis and akebia.

A thousand bulbs, donated by West Van Florist and The Avant Gardener, were planted over winter to give a burst of colour in spring.

On one side, a small cedar potting shed was put up. It is now home to all the gardening tools including a push-mower.

The overall atmosphere of the garden is tranquil and harmonious. The wide concrete path offers a pleasant circuit for strolling while a birdbath beneath an arbour-trellis gives a graceful focal point.

The garden has a covered patio area, a twin-seat, and a raised vegetable box. And along one fence, hand-painted birdhouses have been used as post-caps for decorative interest.

“Families need something to talk about and when they walk in the garden, they often spot and talk about the bird boxes, “ says McPhedran.

The sad part is that neither McPhedran’s mom nor Sapinsky’s dad got to see the finished garden. A party to mark the official opening was held July 24.

Many of the residents now use it. “Sometimes it can be full of people,” says McPhedran.

Carol Higginbottom says her mother, Olga, loves everything in the garden.

“I go every day at 4:30 and take Mom out into the garden. It’s been an opportunity for us to talk about things. We talk about life and admire the flowers. There are so many extensions of one’s mind in the garden.”

McPhedran says one resident enjoys reading out loud the names of the plants on wood signs that were specially made up for the garden. Others get a lift from seeing the vibrant colour of the flowers.

Families have used the garden as a place to have a picnic. “Sometimes it is difficult to take a person out in a car or to a restaurant, so the garden is a good place to have a simple meal together,” says McPhedran.

For Jennifer Gaze, the garden still needs some fine tuning. “It is not quite blousy enough. I would like to see a more exuberant display of flowers.”

To make it happen, the garden could use some phlox and dahlias.

As for McPhedran, she would like to see the garden used to allow residents to gain a sense of “usefulness” through such simple and enjoyable physical activities as raking leaves or shelling peas.

“Ideally, I would have loved to have had a place with a big pile of dirt and wheelbarrows where the men could dig away and move dirt around and work off some of their energy.”

For an hour every Tuesday afternoon, members from West Vancouver Garden Club do a gardening activity with residents.

“We have seen some wonderful results,” club member Aileen Taylor says. “Some residents really like gardening. They love putting on gardening gloves. Some don’t talk much, but being around flowers often triggers happy memories. It could be the sight of a strawberry or the scent of a flower that brings some recognition and a smile.”

For McPhedran, the satisfaction of seeing the friendship garden built is to know there is a place where residents can get out and walk around and find a moment away from the crowd.

“I can’t tell you the great, abiding peace and pleasure the garden gives me every time I go into it and see residents looking content.”

The whole experience has made McPhedran determined to give more of her time to working with dementia patients and their families.

“I want to pass along what I know about care giving. I would also like to work to change the physical environment for people with dementia. There is so much that can be done to make their life happier and give them a great sense of usefulness.”

Caring for her mother, she realized how important it was to keep visiting her, despite the many disappointments.

“Alzheimer’s patients always know who they love and who they are loved by. My mother and I were never very demonstrative about showing affection, but when this happened to my Mom we never said goodbye without hugging and saying ‘I love you.’ ”

While the eight years that her mother suffered with Alzheimer's were often filled with traumatic episodes, McPhedran says through it all she learned a lot about the importance of living in the present.

“You cannot live in the future or the past, so you learn to live in the moment. It comes down to just sharing the moment, perhaps having a cup of tea or just sitting together in a garden.”

Anyone who would like to help with the maintenance or development of the Inglewood Friendship Garden can contact Kerry McPhedran at 604-992-6836.

Email: Steve Whysall