Elkhart General Hospital starts a learning garden

Elkhart General Hospital is planting more than just healthy tips in the minds of their patients, they're also planting actual produce to show their patients how to live healthy lifestyles first hand.

Phyllis Miller, a nurse at EGH told us their goal is "to help our patients and out-patients and all of our associates the community to be able to come and learn more about how fresh vegetables can be a part of a healthy diet and it's role in healing and maintaining good health."

But you wont be seeing this produce in the cafeteria. Instead it will be used as a tool to teach their patients.

Sami Kauffman, the Clinical Nutrition Manager said, "we are using it in our Bariatric Clinics, we are using it in the Heart Failure Clinic, we are going to be using it in Diabetes Clinic, and so we want to encourage the patients to add more high-fiber foods into their diet so they are getting rich vitamins and mineral content food as well as cutting back on the things they should not be having without feeling like they are not full."

The hope is the nutritious food grown in the garden can heal some patients from the inside out.

As Miller said, "keeping ourselves healthy decreases the cost and the need for medications and procedures."