Landscaping underway
Loma Linda University Health works each day to provide care and healing to each person coming through the doors. And for more than 100 years, the focus is not just on our patients’ physical condition. Loma Linda University Health care is focused on the whole person.
The landscaping around the future medical center will be one of the very first factors in a person’s healing here at Loma Linda. Patients and visitors will arrive to a space that features healing outdoor gardens and gathering spaces surrounding the new healthcare complex. This calming environment will feature natural light, gardens, green spaces, areas for social interaction or quiet reflection, open and inviting entrances and clear directional signage. This carefully planned physical environment will play a key role in the whole person care approach.
As the multi-year construction project nears completion, work is underway to create that inviting physical space. Plans call for 168 new trees to be placed around the new construction, including nine large oak trees that have been delivered to the site in 72-inch boxes. In all, there are 14 different types of trees being planted. A wide range of ground cover foliage are being planted as well.
Two special trees are being relocated in prominent locations by the new outdoor amphitheater located to the east of the new building. One tree, a holly oak, honors the memory of Baby Fae and the groundbreaking heart transplant work begun by Dr. Leonard Bailey in 1984. The second, a California Redbud, honors Elenore Graves, a beloved charge nurse who served in Children’s Hospital pediatric ICU for 27 years. Both trees had been located in the Medical Center’s main parking area, which is now the location of the future adult hospital and Children’s Hospital tower.
To enhance the look of the campus in the evenings, workers are also installing more than 300 new exterior lighting fixtures. Along with more than 50 new parking utility pole lights, lights will be placed around trees, along walls, as safety features on steps, and placed at the base of trees to provide dramatic uplighting.
This vignette is adapted from a blog by Dennis E. Park, which appears on the website www.docuvision2020.com.