♪
Amanda>> I'm talking to Noni Langford, and she is a
landscape designer. And she is on the grounds
crew at the Medical University of South Carolina.
And I just can't believe how
integrated overall health is here
through what y'all do on the grounds. Tell us a
little bit about how all encompassing it is.
Noni>> I'm happy to. We are, this is the
M.U.S.C. urban farm, which is a half acre farm and purpose
and our mission is to connect
food to your health and eating healthy.
And so we serve the community, we serve students and
staff here and patients.
Amanda>> And by serve, you don't mean you're fixing them food,
you're introducing them to these healthy foods.
Noni>> Exactly. We're teaching them how to do it.
We get a lot of people, I have some
students in here who grew up in the city,
they'd never seen tomatoes grown on the tomato bush.
So we'd like to enlighten them
and get them to be interested in gardening
as well as eating healthy.
Amanda>> And a lot of that is done just,
I don't mean to say haphazardly,
but just casually. People love to come by
and talk to you while you're working.
Noni>> Exactly. They really do. It's a lot of fun.
And then we also have volunteer
options for people. We are doing some
construction right now. So we don't have as
many as we normally do. But by the, by the
spring, we're going to be back up full steam.
And we will have people come in, they'll sign
in and they'll come work with us. We call
it work and learn. And they can, whatever we're
harvesting, they can have some to take home
with them.
Amanda>> But also you have studied diversity and
inclusion, and people with disabilities.
And so, you're finding ways to let them be a part
of things here. Some of that happens here and
some of it takes place inside patient facilities.
Noni>> Absolutely. We are, we call it
horticultural therapy. And the purpose of that
is to really have people understand how
being in nature can make them feel better.
You know, there's documents
and reviews that talk about this.
So, we love the idea of letting them have a
hands on experience with nature, especially plants.
We love to teach them about plants
and teach them how to grow and give them the
confidence they need to maybe consider doing
this in the future.
Amanda>> And you've got some things that y'all
just designed. So people in wheelchairs
can get up and you don't have them all
stuck off by themselves.
They're integrated where everybody else is.
Noni>> Absolutely. I mean, the entire
campus, of course meets the guidelines of the
American Disabilities Act, but we want to
make our gardens even more comfortable and
welcoming for people with mobility or any
kind of disability.
Amanda>> And you've got a children's
garden going now, and I saw some
people over there playing and it's near
the dental clinic and so a lot of people come
and maybe you'll have some kids with them and
now there's something for them to do.
Noni>> Imagine how much more relaxed they are
when they get in the dental chair if they
haven't been able to run and get some
energy out and have some tactile things to do.
Amanda>> Now some people are inpatients
for a variety of reasons and you've found
ways to take programs to them as well. What
are some of the challenges that presents?
Noni>> Well, the number one challenge is
safety, obviously, for the patient and for and
for us. We want to make sure that there's, we're
not introducing a problem for them if
they are, if a child has his own chemotherapy,
there's a big list of things they cannot do.
So, and then there's also simple
things like peanut allergy, so we don't
use peanut butter for bird feeders. We use
Sun Butter. From that's made from sunflower seeds.
So that's one minor example.
Amanda>> And you've planned
programs like for one group, you have
young children, middle school, and then older
people, and you go in and you got to have
something going for all of them. And I know
that you got to keep people busy, or else
you're going to lose their attention.
Noni>> That's exactly right. But they're
outside and they're happy to be outside.
And it's just, it's really been a great
experience for them.
Amanda>> Well, it just sounds like
everything on campus supports what y'all do,
which I think is remarkable
because what's the basis is the best thing
is to stay healthy and not have to come to M.U.S.C.
But if you do come, how wonderful that
you can have programs that encourage ways to
improve your health.
Noni>> Absolutely. And it's a, it's a large
campus. And of course, we're have satellite
campuses now as well. But this campus is 93 acres,
and it is an arboretum. We have, we,
it was very hard to get the status of arboretum
through trees, USA, and we're very proud that
we have it. And so every tree on the
campus is monitored to make sure it's healthy.
We have some fun, tree walking tours where we
take people around and show them special trees.
Amanda>> What a tremendous resource for Charleston
and for the people who are in need of the
expert care you give here, but also of
people who just need to feel better and have
ways to come and have casual conversations,
and maybe pick up horticulture as a way of life.
Thank you so much!
Noni>> Thank you.