Serving Up Preventive Health Care

Rooftop gardens are flourishing atop more and more hospitals. On unused roof space at Castle Medical Center, a 160-bed urban hospital in Kailua, Hawaii, a garden of greens and crops provides about 60 percent of the fresh produce served for patient meals and in the hospital's cafeteria. Rooftop farm-to-table dining is only one of the medical center's many initiatives to improve the health of its patients, employees and community. Part of Adventist Health, Castle Medical Center collaborates with local organizations to sponsor Let's Talk Food, an annual community event celebrating National Food Day. The family-friendly event has drawn more than 1,000 participants and featured a farmers' market, panel discussions with farmers and physicians, cooking demonstrations and more. For the past six years, the medical center has supported the Windward half-marathon and 5K race in Kailua, which benefits the local Boys & Girls Club. Castle's Wellness and Lifestyle Medicine Center provides other outreach programs to improve community health, including tobacco treatment services—inpatient and outpatient—diabetes education, fitness classes and wellness cuisine cooking classes.

For more information, contact Jasmin Rodriguez, director, marketing, communications and development, at Jasmin.Rodriguez@ah.org. HPOE.org features guides, case studies and webinars from AHA resources and other groups.