“We will see what springtime brings,” says Thomas Gowen, Jr, RN, as he contemplates what to plant next year in the raised-bed area in front of WashU Nephrology’s newest dialysis facility.
Gowen, the Nurse Manager of the Village Square Dialysis Center in Hazelwood, MO, planted sunflowers this past spring and the results were spectacular. “This is at Hazelwood’s Village Square, which I understand was once somewhat of a community destination. There was this 20-foot-long raised bed just waiting for someone to use!” He asked the manager of the property if they could start a community garden. “They said yes, so I started with sunflowers.”
Next year’s garden will have input from the patients and staff. “We have a bit of planning to do.”
Gowen would like to grow something native to the area. “Depending on the interest, I think a butterfly-type garden, or perhaps a vegetable garden could be done. Native growth like the common milkweed perennial, which appeals to butterflies, especially the monarch butterfly, is of interest to me. However, I am open to what other people might want to do.”
The Village Square Dialysis Center is our latest endeavor to provide convenient, state-of-the-art kidney services to our patients in the greater St. Louis area. The facility has 16 in-center dialysis stations and boasts a home dialysis training center along with the kidney disease education program. Their home modality department, run by Shawna McMichael, BSN, RN, offers home hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis.
To any patients, nurses or techs interested in the new dialysis center, Gowen encourages then to “stop by, check out the facility, and think about joining us!”
Call 314-252-7110 for more information.
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