How a garden brings comfort, and honours memory, at P.E.I.'s palliative care centre

It's been nearly a year since Johnny Chiasson lost his wife to cancer, but he still spends upwards of 20 hours a week at the palliative care centre where she spent her final months.

Sun beaming down, Chiasson tends to dozens of planters — pulling off dead flowers, and watering the soil. The gardens surrounding the palliative care centre are lush and overflowing. The smell of ripening tomatoes fills the air, birds are chirping, and bright pink and purple flowers catch the eye. 

It's quite a transformation from when Chiasson and his wife, Jeannie MacLeod, first arrived at the centre in May 2018.

"When we came in here, the facility itself is just beautiful, the care is fantastic, but we felt there was something missing," Chiasson said.

"My wife and I spent time outside, but when we first got here there was no grass, no flowers. There was just concrete and dirt." 

A place for calm, comfort 

Chiasson describes his late wife as a farm girl who loved to be outdoors. Her love of nature inspired him to start a garden at the palliative care centre.

And now, 11 months after her death, Chiasson continues to tend to the garden, and grow it in her memory. He hopes it will bring comfort and joy to others at the centre — patients and families alike.

With its many seating areas, including a gazebo, Chiasson said the gardens offer families places to talk in private. It's something he said is important, especially when having difficult conversations. 

He said the gardens are also a way to forget about pain, medication and illness. 

"When they're inside, they're thinking all the time why they're here," he said.

"Once they come outside you can see the look on their face change. They look at the flowers, they look at the birds, they look at the squirrels."

'I couldn't believe it'

Kerry McKenna has spent time at the palliative care centre on and off since he was diagnosed with cancer in 2013. He now comes to the centre two days a week, and enjoys sitting in the garden.

"When I came out the first time I couldn't believe it. Hearing the water running and all the work he put into it, and all these birdhouses around. Makes the place look so beautiful," McKenna said. 

Staff member Tonya Crosby said she hears from patients how much they enjoy the gardens. And even those who can't make it outside are able to look out through their bedroom windows. A row of planters is deliberately set up in front of the windows — so each resident has a prime view. 

Crosby said it's not just patients who reap the benefits. 

"The staff morale has improved and the families are so much more grateful for it and appreciate it, and it just rubs off on everybody," Crosby said. 

Garden still growing

Now in its second summer, the garden continues to grow. Chiasson has set up a waterfall in memory of his wife, and is in the process of creating a walking path. 

Looking around at the flower beds, Chiasson said his wife would have loved to see how much his project has blossomed. 

"That would mean everything to her," he said.

"If she was still alive today, she'd be right in here with me to do this. That's the kind of person she was."

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