A Dementia Friendly Garden

All of our community gardens look their prime in the summertime, but one set of raised beds at the Roots Off Reserve community garden stands out - it’s an explosion of colors, smells, and textures. This is a dementia friendly garden, started and maintained by volunteers at Missoula Aging Services. Community Gardens Coordinator Tara Santi sat down with Judy Douglas, the Missoula Aging Services’ Volunteer Services Coordinator, to learn more.

Missoula Aging Services

Judy Douglas at the Roots Off Reserve Garden

“Our programs are designed to promote the health, independence and dignity of older adults and those that care for them,” said Judy. Missoula Aging Services have quite a number of programs, carried out by over 500 volunteers. “There are about 120 volunteers with the Meals on Wheels program, which helps with the nutrition of older adults who are home-bound and those with disabilities.” Their Caring Companions program connects volunteers to older adults who are home-bound to help them remain independent. “These volunteers provide companionship and rides to places like the doctor’s office and grocery stores. Adults outlive their ability to drive by seven to ten years,” Judy told me.

Missoula Aging Services also hosts a monthly ‘tech cafe’ where people can get help with their phone, laptop or tablet from knowledgeable volunteers. “Our other volunteer programs help older adults with yard chores, getting to medical appointments that require a designated driver, and learning the bus system. Most of our programs are focused around helping people get connected with our community,” she said. “The Health Department put out a statistic that isolation is like smoking 15 cigarettes a day. It's really detrimental to your health.” You can read that report here - Judy is referencing a statistic on pages 9 and 25.

One way they help people get involved is through their volunteer programs. “We offer a community program for people aged 55+ to help them get out in our community, to connect, give back, and learn new skills, or to use the skills that they've gleaned over a lifetime. It can also be an opportunity to make friends and socialize, to keep people from being isolated in their homes. We partner with 40+ different agencies, nonprofits, or state parks in the area. We help potential volunteers find opportunities that enhance their life and make them want to get up out of bed in the morning and be excited.”

Some examples of their volunteer opportunities include: tour guiding for the Insectarium and Missoula Art Museum, staffing the information call center for the Missoula Office of Emergency Management during local emergencies, transporting blood to rural communities with the Red Cross, reading to children with Reading Opens Your World, and more. Many volunteers with Missoula Aging Services help multiple agencies in the community.

Partnership with Garden City Harvest

In 2023, Missoula Aging Services rented a set of two raised beds at the Roots Off Reserve Community Garden and transformed them into a beautiful dementia friendly garden. This project was the brainchild of Dr. Richard Blank, a long-time volunteer with Missoula Aging Services and the Meals on Wheels program. Judy explained his story to me. “He's a retired physician who helped his wife who had dementia. He was a caregiver for her. She passed away years ago and he became a volunteer to help us help people whose lives have been touched by dementia.” He calls clients and does their nutrition needs assessments for the program. He’s also connected with Dementia Friendly Missoula and some of Missoula Aging Services’ caregiver support groups.

A plaque on the Missoula Aging Services' beds

Dr. Blank had a dream of a dementia friendly garden in Missoula that would engage people’s senses.

“Our senses bring back a lot of memories and get people talking,” Judy said. “We thought it would be a great way to get the word out about dementia as well as engage volunteers.”

So they reached out to Garden City Harvest. The Roots Off Reserve Community Garden was a perfect fit because it offers ADA-accessible raised beds as well as an irrigation system that allows for automatic watering.

Missoula Aging Services and their volunteers work hard to make the space friendly to those with dementia and their caregivers. The beds are planted with a wide variety of vegetables, herbs and flowers. The goal, Judy said, is to engage as many of the senses as possible. With this in mind, Missoula Aging Services created a space with many different colors, smells, tastes, and textures. And sounds, too - buzzing bees love these garden beds! Many plants have labels encouraging visitors to engage with them.

“People with dementia have good days and bad days,” Judy explained. “You just don't know when is going to be a good time.” For that reason, Missoula Aging Services wants “to give the caregivers and people with dementia a place to go to just drop in,” where the clients are free to experience and engage with the garden as they wish.

The newly constructed shade sail at the Roots Off Reserve garden.

Sharing the bounty

Missoula Aging Services’ volunteers maintain the garden beds, doing things like planting, weeding, and harvesting. Several of these volunteers are gardeners themselves who enjoy loaning their expertise to the project. They bring the produce back to the Missoula Aging Services’ office and keep it in the refrigerator for clients. “We have a sign in the office that says, ‘ask us about fresh produce’. We wash it and put it in a bag with the date on it. It's a wonderful way to get produce to clients, many of whom are on fixed incomes,” Judy said.

Since the garden is intended as a space where caregivers and clients can drop in whenever, Judy doesn’t know exactly how many people use it. She’s heard from several caregivers that love it, and hopes to encourage more people to use it. “This is a work in progress,” she emphasizes. “As we develop it more, we find out what the barriers are - what works and what doesn't.”

For example, they noticed that there wasn’t much shade at the garden. This was a significant barrier for clients visiting the garden on hot summer days. So Missoula Aging Services helped Garden City Harvest finance a new shade sail, which benefits not only their clients, but all the gardeners and visitors at the site.

Interested in learning more?

Contact Judy (jdouglas@missoulaagingservices.org) if you’re interested in learning more about Missoula Aging Services’ volunteer opportunities. They have enough volunteers for the garden, but there are many other options. “Our goal is to get a great-fitting volunteer opportunity for each person who comes to us!”