LARNED -- With the arrival of spring, the future Healing Garden at Pawnee Valley Community Hospital has started to take shape as Eakin Concrete cemented the first phase of the project by pouring the walkway that leads out and around the Healing Garden.
The walkway is a two-toned slate stamped concrete that travels through the garden and someday will lead to the cascading waterfall at the far end of the garden — creating a destination point for PVCH patients.
Even though patients and staff will be able to start using the garden’s paved areas for the opportunity to be outside enjoying fresh air and sunshine, they will not be able to enjoy beautiful benefits of a completed garden.  
Currently funding is only available to complete the concrete, the “Precious Moments” grandmother and child statue and the gazebo. Two of the six benches have also received sponsorship.  
The completion of the garden’s landscaping including trees, bushes and flowering plants; the fencing and the waterfall, will not be completed until additional funding is available through sponsorship donations and the sale of the Legacy Bricks.  So far, 65 of the 1,000 bricks available have been purchased to help fund the garden’s completion.  
The Legacy Bricks are available for $35 and can be engraved with three lines of 14 characters each. The bricks can be purchased in honor or memory of a loved one, family or friends, milestone occasions, birth of a child or to leave a family or group legacy.  Other sponsorship opportunities will be honored with an engraved plaque.  
For information, please contact Linda Henderson at the Pawnee Valley Community Hospital Foundation, 620-285-8840 or email linda.henderson@haysmed.com.