Volunteers to build adaptive gardens for people with MS
| Wednesday, Oct 28 2009 03:35 PM
Last Updated Wednesday, Oct 28 2009 03:35 PM
About Multiple Sclerosis
* Every hour in the United States, someone is newly diagnosed with MS, an unpredictable, often disabling disease of the central nervous system.
* Symptoms range from numbness and tingling to blindness and paralysis. The advancement, severity and specific symptoms of MS in any one person cannot yet be predicted, but advances in research and treatment are moving us closer to a world free of MS.
* Most people with MS are diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 50, with more than twice as many women as men being diagnosed with the disease.
* MS affects more than 400,000 people in the U.S. and 2.1 million worldwide.
* Early and ongoing treatment with an FDA-approved therapy can make a difference for people with multiple sclerosis. Learn about your options by talking to your health care professional and contacting the National MS Society at nationalMSsociety.org or 1-800-FIGHT-MS (344-4867).
Thanks to financial donations from local Rotary clubs, individuals and foundations, on Saturday, volunteers with the National MS Society will create adaptive garden areas for people with multiple sclerosis in skilled nursing facilities.
The idea came to life when Kim Kotrla, Kern County program manager for the MS Society, delivered a potted plant to a 51-year-old woman with MS in a local skilled nursing facility. The woman asked Kotrla to place the plant on her stomach. She recalled, "I thought she wanted to smell the flowers, but she did something that totally surprised me. She pushed her fingers into the soil and said 'I haven't felt dirt in so long.'" Kotrla realized that something as simple as gardening is one of the everyday things we all take for granted.
Kotrla shared the encounter with Lisa Karpe, who is the volunteer coordinator for the Society's "Caring Connection" program -- a program that provides emotional support and companionship to people in skilled nursing with multiple sclerosis. Karpe began to research adaptive gardening projects and introduced the idea to the newly formed group of MS Society volunteers, cleverly named B.A.M.S. (Bakersfield Against Multiple Sclerosis). From there, the project blossomed.
B.A.M.S. member Lynn Califf, who was diagnosed with MS in 1997, stopped by a Bolles Nursery and owner Steve Bolles agreed instantly to donate needed gardening materials. Local businessman Van Roberts, who was diagnosed with MS more than five years ago, offered to grow and donate a variety of plants and flowers -- everything from mixed flowers to oregano and cherry tomatoes.
Liberty High School student Connor Stuart is fulfilling his community service hours by assembling the planters and helping out on Saturday morning. Sandy Foster, whose husband, Bruce, was diagnosed with MS 10 years ago, is donating both money and time to the project. She said, "As a wife of a man with MS who was an avid gardener, but who is now in skilled nursing, I know he will get great joy to be able to watch his garden grow. We are hoping this will encourage him to get outside to tend to his garden."
This project not only brings the outdoors to people with MS in skilled nursing, but also brings awareness about the complex issue of long-term care for persons with MS. MS is a chronic, often disabling disease of the central nervous system -- diagnosed generally between the ages of 20 and 50. Not everyone becomes permanently disabled; however, the Society estimates that 20 percent to 25 percent of persons with MS will need some type of long term care services.
One of the recipients of the gardening project, Caroline Hughes, began her stay in a skilled nursing facility in 1988 when she was 26 years old. Lisa Karpe and her husband, Ray, visit Hughes weekly. Lisa Karpe said, "This project is a great volunteer opportunity to help MS residents in skilled nursing facilities that are often younger and have different needs than the average resident."
To find out more about the adaptive gardening project, the Caring Connection program, or other programs and services of the National MS Society in Kern County, contact the MS Society at 321-9512 or visit the Web site at www.nationalmssociety.org/cal.
-- Kim Kotrla is Kern County program manager for the MS Society.
