DETROIT ― Perched on an 8-foot ladder, Michelle Lutz reaches into the leafy tops of the pole-bean vines growing toward the glass roof of Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital’s new $1 million hydroponic greenhouse.

“The first ones!” the resident farmer declares, holding up several young pods.

Already that morning she had picked red and green lettuces, heirloom cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, okra, edible nasturtiums and bunches of herbs for the hospital’s kitchen, which uses the produce in patients’ meals and its cafe.

Dozens of kinds of vegetables and herbs ― five types of kale, 23 kinds of tomatoes, five varieties of basil, eggplants, squash, hot and sweet peppers, fresh herbs, microgreens and even strawberry plants ― have been thriving since mid-summer in what Henry Ford officials say is the first hospital-based greenhouse in the nation.

It is surprisingly prolific. Hospital chefs no longer have to buy microgreens or basil, their most-used herb, because the greenhouse produces all they need. “If I manage this properly,” Lutz says, indicating her 12-by-20-foot hydroponic table, “this will produce 15,000 heads of lettuce in a year. For 240 square feet, that’s pretty incredible.”

But growing organic vegetables year-round for the hospital’s kitchens isn’t the only purpose of the gleaming, 1,500-square-foot glass structure and its adjoining educational center, both entirely funded by an anonymous donor.

The buildings are designed to educate and inspire everyone from patients to the public to make healthier food choices ― in keeping with the hospital’s mission of promoting wellness as well as treating illness.

And because of Michigan’s high childhood obesity rates, many of its educational center exhibits and programs are geared toward kids.

“We want to make sure that every single day we have yellow school buses coming here from all over southeast Michigan,” says hospital CEO Gerard van Grinsven. “We want to influence our young ones to start thinking differently about food and what they put in their bodies.”

His vision for the project doesn’t stop at the West Bloomfield, Mich., campus. “Ultimately, we can take this to downtown Detroit and start producing food for the entire (Henry Ford) system ― not have it just here,” van Grinsven says.

“This is not just about a little greenhouse. It’s about planting seeds,” he says.

Only a few years ago, the idea of hospital gardens for growing food, providing therapy, involving employees and educating the community sounded far-fetched. But today, scores of health-care institutions around the country are creating or sponsoring front-lawn vegetable patches, hoop houses, community gardens and even beds on their rooftops.

“We certainly hear of more hospitals getting engaged in food campaigns and fitness campaigns among their staff and the broader community,” says Michael Bilton, executive director of the Association for Community Health Improvement, part of the American Hospital Association.

And in general, “wellness is becoming a more intentional strategy as a part of how hospitals operate,” he said. “Part of that is because a large part of what determines health is diet and nutrition ... and access to healthy food plays a big part in that.”

Henry Ford West Bloomfield’s efforts, though, appear to be in a class by themselves.

Jeffrey Jacobs, the hospital’s interim director of wellness, says they chose a water-based growing system, partly because of the issues involved in having soil in a hospital environment.

To learn about hydroponic systems ― as well as the art of attracting and entertaining visitors ― he visited Walt Disney’s Epcot Center in Florida, home to some of the most advanced hydroponic gardens in the country.

“We walked through Epcot and saw the games they had and how they keep it entertaining and interactive as a learning center for children. We said, ‘That’s what our educational center should be.’”

Lutz ― the former owner of certified organic Maple Creek Farm in Yale ― also visited Epcot after she was hired.

Even though hydroponic gardening is not an organic method, Lutz insisted on using organic practices and materials. “We want patients to come here, so I can’t be spraying toxic chemicals,” she says. And besides, organic food is healthier food, she believes.

She’s seeking full organic certification for the greenhouse from an agency in California, the only place in the country that grants it, she says.

When the approval comes, Henry Ford West Bloomfield’s facility will be the first certified-organic hydroponic greenhouse in Michigan, the first at a hospital, and so far, one of only a handful in the country, she says.

Tucked between the back of the hospital and a picturesque pond and wetlands area, the jewel-box-like greenhouse isn’t expected to grow all the produce the hospital needs ― and in fact, it can’t, Lutz says.

“But could we do that? Yes, with a couple of more greenhouses and more space, absolutely.”

Meanwhile, she’s prepared for caravans of those yellow school buses van Grinsven wants to see.

Last month, the hospital mailed 1,000 packets to schools, outlining engaging, 90-minute kids’ programs called Farmer for the Day and Chef for the Day, centered on the greenhouse and the hospital’s demonstration kitchen. Other programs are geared to other age groups and interests, including how to do hydroponic growing in classrooms.

Lutz says she’s often asked whether she’s the only on-staff hospital farmer in the country. “I say I think I am, but I don’t want to be. I hope many other hospitals will adopt this.”

By Sylvia Rectorm 

(Detroit Free Press)

(MCT Information Services)