A rooftop garden at Boston Medical Center makes things a little greener
This summer, Boston’s “greenest hospital” just became a lot greener with the addition of their rooftop garden. A 7,000-square-foot area lush with arugula, bok choy, Swiss chard, carrots, spinach, cucumbers, and two urban bee hives.
Morrison Healthcare partnered with Boston Medical Center (BMC) to help maintain and harvest the 16,000 pounds of fresh, organic fruit and vegetables that will grow there each season. Morrison chefs will use the very locally sourced produce in the patient meals and in the café to be enjoyed by guests and hospital staff. Any unused produce goes to the hospital’s Preventative Food Pantry–a program where low-income patients can get fresh produce prescribed by their doctors for free.
According to Morrison Regional Director of Operations Jamie Robidoux, the café often features specialty menu items and Teaching Kitchen events based on what is growing on the rooftop. Typically, they would source produce from New England farmers as far as 250 miles away. The garden has allowed the hospital to make a big impact on their sustainability efforts and include the entire hospital community. A Morrison Healthcare arborist maintains the garden with the help of dozens of volunteers, who are excited to get their hands dirty.
“We’re trying to touch the entire BMC community with this farm,” says David Maffeo, BMC Senior Director of Support Services. “Based on the number of emails I get, it’s been a huge hit and it’s energized the community. We see great feedback from the patients that they are eating fresh organic produce from right across the street.”
Maffeo says the excitement surrounding the garden is palpable and weekly tours are always fully booked. He’s also looking forward to the growing partnership between BMC and Morrison Healthcare as the garden grows and evolves.
Our Community-Focused Approach
We are continuously and passionately committed to the health of our residents, communities and planet. At Morrison, we understand that our impact reaches far beyond walls of the hospitals, business, schools and universities we serve. We’re a proud part of Compass Group USA, our parent company who also shares in this vision. Check out the full 2017 Compass Group Corporate Social Responsibility Report and see how this vision is coming to life.
Join the Morrison Healthcare Family
Looking for meaningful work helping people? Do you want to marry your passions and serving others? Check out available team member or management opportunities to join the Compass One Healthcare and Morrison Healthcare family. We believe in the Power of Food to change lives and are proud of the opportunities we have each day to help people and serve alongside world-class clients.
Morrison is a proud part of Compass One Healthcare and Compass Group USA.
This story originally appeared on the Compass Group USA Blog.
