Blue Shield of California Sponsors Community Gardens At Two Shelters for Victims of Domestic Violence; "Horticultural Therapy" Helps Victims Heal.SAN FRANCISCO--(BW HealthWire)--Oct. 1, 1999-- To kick off Domestic Violence Awareness Month, Blue Shield of California Blue Shield of California is a not-for-profit health insurance provider headquartered in San Francisco, California. An independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, Blue Shield of California is an incorporated, wholly owned subsidiary of California Physicians' has announced the creation of community gardens at two California shelters for victims of domestic violence. The gardens will provide "horticultural therapy Horticultural therapy is the practice of horticulture as therapy to improve human well-being. According to the American Horticultural Therapy Association, HT is defined as “ ," as well as fresh food, for women and children recovering from abuse. The first garden ready for planting is at a shelter in Davis. Blue Shield Blue Shield A US not-for-profit health care insurer that is a reimbursement intermediary for physicians. Cf Blue Cross. volunteers will help with planting after completing domestic violence training. The second garden is at a Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. shelter and will be ready later this year. Blue Shield learned about horticultural hor·ti·cul·ture n. 1. The science or art of cultivating fruits, vegetables, flowers, or ornamental plants. 2. The cultivation of a garden. therapy--the use of gardening and horticultural activities to improve social, educational, psychological and physical adjustment--from the California State Department, which sponsors similar projects throughout the state. The therapy is used for persons with mental illness, or developmental or physical disabilities, and for socially or economically disadvantaged persons. "For victims of domestic violence, gardening in a safe environment helps heal emotional disturbances Noun 1. emotional disturbance - any mental disorder not caused by detectable organic abnormalities of the brain and in which a major disturbance of emotions is predominant affective disorder, emotional disorder, major affective disorder and poor self-esteem," said Marianne Balin, coordinator of the initiative. " It improves the mental and physical health of the participants." "Horticultural therapy heals because it engages the whole person," said Kathony Jerauld, a health program specialist with the State Department. "It helps the shelter residents--including the children, who usually outnumber out·num·ber tr.v. out·num·bered, out·num·ber·ing, out·num·bers To exceed the number of; be more numerous than. outnumber Verb to exceed in number: the adults--to reconnect to key elements of self that may have been broken by the violence." The shelters will also benefit from the availability of fresh produce. Budgetary and time constraints often force domestic violence agencies to prepare client meals using canned and other types of processed foods of lower nutritional content. Blue Shield of California, an independent member of the Blue Shield Association. The Domestic Violence Initiative is an award-winning program started in 1996. It includes on-site awareness training for groups of employees, the creation of employer kits and other resources, and physician education programs. Note to Editors: Story idea for Domestic Violence Awareness Month (October). Call for photo ops. |
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