A new model of hospital, sustainable and healthy, has recently arisen in the United States of America, in Boston. This is the Boston Medical Center which has the largest farm in Boston installed on its roof. The goal of a hospital on the roof of the hospital is to supply the freshest and most local products to the greatest possible number of patients, employees and even members of the community, as well as to reduce the carbon emissions produced by food transport.
The Boston Medical Center has a 250 square meter rooftop farm. Over 25 crops are produced on the largest Boston rooftop farm such as cabbage, rocket, tomatoes, carrots, aubergines, cucumbers and peppers. In this way the patients of the hospital will be able to have a healthy diet guaranteed and at km 0.
The BMC farm in fact not only provides fresh and local products to hospitalized patients, to the hospital canteen and to the preventive food pantry, but it is also part of a wider project to make the hospital green. The farm in fact makes it possible to reduce the hospital’s carbon footprint and energy consumption, because it no longer needs to transport food, and increases the green space available to the community.
BMC is not just the largest rooftop farm in Boston,but the project is also the first rooftop farm in Massachusetts. The program director, Stacia Clinton, explained the reasons behind the project:
There is a growing trend in hospital farms. Now there is a greater demand for people to know where their food comes from and hospitals are looking for ways to connect people to their food more directly.
“BMC collaborated with experts Lindsay Allen and John Stoddard of the Higher Ground Farm (HGF) to find the best possible model to meet the needs of the hospital and respect the environment, the goal is to produce organic and local food each season and also save on the hospital’s economy.
The BMC rooftop farm in its first year has managed to produce over 2,000 pounds of food. In this way the hospital guarantees patients and employees direct access to healthy and seasonal ingredients because a healthy life starts with good nutrition. This is not the only Boston Medical Center initiative towards sustainability. The hospital has committed to installing photovoltaic panels on the roof that will make it the first zero-emission hospital in the United States of America and will save about $ 1.5 million in heat and energy costs each year at the BMC. Meanwhile, the hospital was elected among the 50 greenest hospitals in America.
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