October 13, 2024
Along with volunteers from the Sturgeon Community Hospital and the community, patient care managers Glenda Corrigal and Sandy Mageau enlisted their husbands Kevin and Phil to help build a healing garden in honour of the hospital’s late site director, Mary Lou McKenzie. Photo by Sharman Hnatiuk.
Local chainsaw artist Kelly Davies repurposed trees in the area into an art installation, benches, butterflies for the Sturgeon Community Hospital’s healing garden. He turned existing trees into an archway for the garden’s namesake, the late Mary Lou McKenzie. Photo by Sharman Hnatiuk.
Staff, volunteers and visitors celebrate the official opening of a new healing garden at the Sturgeon Community Hospital, a project made possible thanks to community support and hospital staff volunteers. Photo by Sharman Hnatiuk.
Story & photos by Sharman Hnatiuk
ST. ALBERT — When a local caller mentioned the lack of flowers around Sturgeon Community Hospital in the summer of 2022, the site manager at the time, Mary Lou Mckenzie, challenged her team to start a gardening club to beautify the site — and to reach out to their community for support to create a patient-friendly garden space.
Sadly, two weeks later McKenzie died unexpectedly, which inspired staff to carry on with a heartfelt wish to make a healing garden legacy project in her memory.
“We were devastated to lose Mary Lou,” says Sandy Mageau, patient care manager. “But we rallied as a team to keep the momentum of building a healing garden in honour of Mary Lou for patients, families and staff at the hospital to enjoy.”
Mageau and her colleagues adopted a multi-year staged approach. In 2023, an overgrown space behind the hospital was chosen, and volunteers got busy clearing the site of trees, shrubbery and an old coyote den. This year, retaining walls were cleaned up, flower beds planted, and fountains and furnishings were added to a space made safe for patients and visitors to enjoy.
To date, the project is credited by the hard work and volunteer support of a growing number of gardening club members and community donors who’ve helped clean up the area, build infrastructure to accommodate the garden, and pay for a woodwork artist to repurpose trees in the space into an art installation, benches and a garden arch.
The Kinsmen Club of St. Albert joined the initiative this year to partner with the hospital to help expand and maintain the garden in years to come.
As a Kinsmen member, and husband of an emergency department nurse at the Sturgeon, Ian Stephens is a committed community member and wholeheartedly supports the expansion of Mary Lou’s Garden.
“This project is so much more than handing over a $20,000 cheque from the Kinsmen,” says Stephens. “Our members get to come get their hands dirty and help develop a space that can be comforting and healing to patients, families, and those who work here. It’s rewarding to so many of us to build a community legacy project like this.”
In September, staff gathered alongside members of the community to celebrate the completion of phase 2 the official opening of Mary Lou’s Garden.
For Mageau, the cleanup, building of infrastructure to accommodate the garden, and woodwork carvings would not be possible without the support of hospital leadership, garden club volunteers, donations and sponsorship from the Kinsmen, materials from Rockland Supplies, and grants received from The United Way and Enbridge Fueling Futures.
She knows the project will require more volunteers and community funding to help with its next phases, which will include a new retaining wall and more accessibility for patients, but the memory of her friend and colleague keeps her motivated.
“I’ve always loved gardening, but this has become a special place for me to think about Mary Lou,” says Mageau.
“I feel her presence, it feels so magical. I like to think of her sitting there on one of the benches enjoying the sights, sounds, and smell of the garden. That’s healing to me.”
