Thinking Green Accomplishments
Center for Bioethics and Humanities Garden
Think Green goes beyond saving energy. The staff at the Center for Bioethics and Humanities has taken "going green" literally, and they added other bright colors as well. They have planted a perennial garden in front of their new home, featuring low-maintenance plants that don't require a lot of water. A full complement of colorful flowers and other greenery will be on display in the spring.
When SUNY Upstate's Center for Bioethics and Humanities moved into its new home at 618 Irving Ave. in July, the faculty and staff decided to spruce up the entranceway.
"It was truly a collaborative effort," said Kathy Faber-Langendoen, MD, founder and chair of the center, housed in Upstate's former child care center next to University Hospital.
On a weekend in August, CBH faculty, staff and family members pitched in to weed, dig, transplant and water. Upstate's Physical Plant supplied wood chips, and this fall will donate and plant a tree in the garden.
"These are low-water, low-maintenance flowers," Faber-Langendoen said as she looked over the garden, which graces both sides of the CBH's entrance. "This gets full southern exposure, so it has to be hardy stuff."
For now, the garden boasts black-eyed Susans, mums, butterfly bushes, day lilies, viburnum and other flowering plants, as well as ornamental grasses.
This fall, the green thumbs from the CBH will plant bulbs so that next spring, the garden will be ablaze with tulips and daffodils in addition to the colors already on display.
"There's a lot of art inside this beautiful space we have," Faber-Langendoen said of the CBH's new home. "The garden is just a continuation of that beauty."
The Center for Bioethics and Humanities, founded in 2000, strives to advance the understanding of bioethics and the medical humanities, and to promote clinical health care and health policy that is patient-centered, compassionate, and just.
It does this through education, scholarly work and clinical services.