University Children's Hospital Queen Fabiola (HUDERF) in Brussels, inaugurated in 1986, is the only Belgian hospital entirely dedicated to patients under the age of 18 years old. Approximately 200,000 children are treated annually, of which some 12,000 are admitted.   

 

Despite this focus on children, and the widely recognised importance of time spent outside in nature, the hospital only has a garden around its school and therefore only accessible to children of school age during term time. 

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A nearby park offers some opportunities to escape the confines of hospital rooms but it can seem far away when you have a very sick child and if you only have 10 minutes between appointments it is simply too far to go. 

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A garden can however provide significant benefits to patients, siblings, parents, medical personnel and other hospital staff.

• A place to reduce stress, relax and unwind. 

• Somewhere to appreciate the changing seasons and passing of time when in hospital time can seem to stand still. 

• A venue for meeting, socialising, laughing, eating and enjoying being together.  

• An opportunity to quite literally get fresh air and break the boredom of long hospital stays.

• A setting for families with children in palliative care can create precious memories that will help those left behind.

                

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This project aims to create a garden at HUDERF that will enable the young patients as well as their families and hospital personnel to escape the confines of the hospital rooms and corridors to enjoy the sights, sounds and smells of the outdoors, to forget for a moment the rigours of medical treatment and to recharge their batteries and reduce their stress. 

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Similar projects have been implemented in many children’s hospitals and hospices across the world.

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The garden will have two distinct areas. The lower section will be on the way to the hospital's playground and will offer opportunities for sitting together, talking and eating, while the higher section will be slightly further away from the main building and provide a calm, soothing space for reflection.  Key to the design will be ensuring access for wheelchairs and strollers as well as incorporating elements that provide sensory stimulations such as fragrant plants, wind chimes, water, textured grasses etc.  Geo-biologists have visited the site of the future garden in order to ensure that the land is optimally harmonised. 

  

It is hoped that Phase 1 of the garden will be open by summer 2019 with Phase 2 created during the autumn and following spring.  An official opening will be organised for Spring/Summer 2020.