Students from Pitt Occupational Therapy, Dietetics and Nutrition, and Pharmacy with Healthy Home Lab Director Pamela Toto (second from left) outside the Healthy Home Lab in Oakland.
In late April, Pitt’s Healthy Home Lab (HHL) held a highly successful garden event that showcased the collaborative efforts of an interprofessional team dedicated to educating the community about gardening and dexterity. The event featured interactive stations led by students from various Pitt disciplines including the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences Occupational Therapy and Dietetics and Nutrition, and the School of Pharmacy. Each station around the home focused on the theme of “aging in place.”
At the heart of this project were Denica Obis and Kayla Valente (OTD ’24), two dedicated students—now alumni—who had spent the semester planning the garden for the HHL. As co-president of the University of Pittsburgh American Geriatric Society Interprofessional student group, Valente led the organization of the event. Obis and Valente planned the garden design through literature research, internet searches and collaborations with Presbyterian Senior Care and experts from Thomas Jefferson University. With financial support from the HHL, they purchased materials for the first phase of the project and collaborated with the university student organization, Plant2Plate, to help maintain the garden. Plant2Plate agreed to care for the garden and donate the produce grown from the garden to local food banks like Squirrel Hill Community Food Pantry.
Denica Obis and Kayla Valente posing with a copy of the “Healthy Home Lab Age-Friendly Garden Toolkits and Case studies” handbook they created.
Participants planting a variety of vegetables and fruits in the Healthy Home Lab garden.
Denica Obis drilling pieces of the planter boxes used for the garden.
The event also featured a short cooking demonstration, focusing on the nutritional benefits of fresh produce and offering useful tips for incorporating garden-grown vegetables into quick, delicious and healthy meals. Attendees then participated in an information lesson about the progress of the dementia-friendly garden in the HHL's backyard.
Participants enjoy a cooking demonstration
Pamela Toto, director of the Healthy Home Lab, stated, “I cannot overstate how outstanding of a job Denica and Kayla did to make the event a success. They truly made us Pitt Proud!”