A vegetable garden grows at Saint Vincent Hospital, helps feed patients

David Bruce, Erie Times-News
Updated ·2 min read

One of Domenica Babo's daily work duties this summer as manager of the Allegheny Health Network Healthy Food Center has been to water and weed a vegetable garden across the street from Saint Vincent Hospital.

The garden, located on West 25th Street between a parking garage and the Kloecker Funeral Home and Crematory, includes eight raised garden boxes with tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, peppers, broccoli, beans and zucchini.

"I never gardened before this," Babo said as she walked among the ripening vegetables. "So I have leaned on my fellow Saint Vincent employees, including one who is a master gardener."

Domenica Babo, AHN Healthy Foods manager, holds three tomatoes grown in Saint Vincent Hospital's new garden. She is joined Wednesday by Lori Jones, 63, left, and Jones' granddaughter, Alivia Smith, 20, both of Erie. Jones and Smith have received produce from the garden.
Domenica Babo, AHN Healthy Foods manager, holds three tomatoes grown in Saint Vincent Hospital's new garden. She is joined Wednesday by Lori Jones, 63, left, and Jones' granddaughter, Alivia Smith, 20, both of Erie. Jones and Smith have received produce from the garden.

The garden, planted in a Saint Vincent-owned lot, is part of a systemwide AHN program to help feed patients with food insecurity — a lack of access to enough quality food to meet their basic needs.

Food-insecure patients who have been referred to an AHN Healthy Food Center by their physician are eligible for a package of fresh vegetables every month, Babo said.

"We pick the vegetables when they are ripe and take them over to the center," Babo said. "Patients can then select the ones they want."

Lori Jones, 63, has received fresh vegetables from the center each of the last three months. She and her 20-year-old granddaughter, Alivia Smith, use the food to make healthy meals.

"I have made roasted vegetables and fresh salads with cucumbers and tomatoes," said Smith, who lives with Jones.

Garden funded through $25,000 Rite Aid grant

The garden is funded by a $25,000 grant from Rite Aid Healthy Futures, which funds similar initiatives to hospitals across the country. The grant is expected to cover the garden's costs for several years, a Saint Vincent spokeswoman said.

Though Babo and a few other Saint Vincent employees do most of the work, others have helped without anyone asking.

"I'll see someone on their cell phone, bending over and picking weeds," Babo said. "Others have left tomatoes for us that they picked over the weekend."

More than 200 pounds of fresh produce has been harvested from the garden already this summer, enough to provide vegetables to about 100 patients, Babo said. The garden will likely be expanded in 2024.

This year's harvest will continue into the fall. As the early crops ripen, Babo and others will plant carrots, kale, peas and possibly beets.

"I have learned so much about gardening," Babo said. "Like when to cut broccoli and that you shouldn't remove a squash's leaves because that's how the plant gets its energy."

Patients should talk with their primary care provider if they are interested in a referral to the AHN Healthy Food Center. The center is funded through a $25,000 grant from Highmark Inc. and $190,000 raised from Saint Vincent's Festival of Trees.

A center referral is good for up to six patient visits.

Contact David Bruce at dbruce@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNBruce.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Saint Vincent Hospital grows garden to feed food-insecure patients