“Picture a placid, airy room with a trickling waterfall feature, smooth stones from the Wissahickon Creek, and a serpentine cedar bench set alongside rows of bright, fragrant, tropical plants, with more plants growing on a wall on the opposite side. Music plays softly in the background, and the atmosphere is enhanced by gentle mood lighting.” ~ Einstein Perspectives, 2017

MossRehab is the physical and cognitive rehabilitation division of the Einstein Healthcare Network in the Philadelphia region. Consistently ranked for 25 years by U.S. News & World Report as a “Best Hospital” for rehabilitation, MossRehab serves people in need of rehabilitation to overcome spinal cord injuries, strokes, amputations and traumatic brain injuries.

MossRehab opened the Alice and Herbert Sachs Therapeutic Conservatory at its main Elkins Park, Pennsylvania facility in 2014 to expand and enhance its horticultural therapy program.

“For Alice and Herbert Sachs, it is personal. It was their experience during the illness of a loved one that inspired their desire to collaborate with MossRehab at Elkins Park to construct the Alice and Herbert Sachs Therapeutic Conservatory for the benefit of patients and their families.

Their dream has become a reality. Now, MossRehab has a dedicated space to grow its horticultural therapy program allowing more patients to meet their rehabilitation goals by combining therapy with gardening. The Conservatory also offers a beautiful, unexpected oasis for patients and their families.” ~ Einstein Healthcare Network

The 1,500-square-foot Conservatory is divided into three connected sections. “Work” (440 square feet) includes a work table and storage cabinets. “Grow” and “Show” are housed within a Rough Brothers, Inc. greenhouse structure. The Grow Room (530 square feet) is a working greenhouse and the area where horticultural therapists engage patients in gardening activities designed to help them achieve therapeutic treatment goals. The Show Room (530 square feet) is a plant-filled place of respite. In addition to the green wall, it includes a 10’T x 4’W clear glass water wall, daylighting, natural cedar trim, natural teak furnishings, potted plants, and accessible raised planting beds.

The “Show” section of the Conservatory features an 84-square-foot green wall (12 feet wide x 7 feet tall) installed with the LiveWall®Indoor Living Wall System.

“The Show Room was designed as a sun filled, relaxing and rejuvenating green space — a retreat from the hospital environment.  As its name suggests, it is the showcase of the Conservatory. The green wall complements the water wall to create the central showpiece of this section.” ~ Craig Sieving, vice president, facilities administration, Einstein Healthcare Network

“In the design of the Show Room, we wanted to screen a large masonry wall.  The green wall serves that function. It also provides a strong visual impact in relationship with the water wall and adds a garden element and more plants without taking up precious floor space.” ~ Jeffery T. Smith, AIA, NCARB, architect and partner, Chianis + Anderson Architects (Binghamton, N.Y.)

Installed in April 2014, the LiveWall green wall is located, as noted, in the Show section of the Conservatory, which is accessible to staff, patients and their families, and guests at special events. The green wall faces south/southwest. It was installed using LiveWall’s sage-colored modular planters. The initial plant palette consisted of three varieties of Pothos. MossRehab completely changes out the wall’s annuals once year and changes other plants periodically, six to ten modules at a time, using poinsettias and evergreens during the holidays or adding decorations and different flowers for special events.

The Einstein Healthcare Network installed a LiveRoof green roof on a different facility ten years ago. Their experience and long-term satisfaction with LiveRoof gave them confidence in LiveWall.

“The Show Room is an oasis for patients and their families, a refuge from their cares and stresses.  Visitors are so impressed when they learn that the green wall plants are cared for by our patients.” ~ Anne Wieland, CTRS, MHA, Team Leader, Recreation Therapy, MossRehab

The Alice and Herbert Sachs Therapeutic Conservatory was recognized as a 2017 Garden of Distinction during the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society’s annual Gardening and Greening Contest and the 2016 Program Excellence Award from the Mid-Atlantic Horticultural Therapy Network.

The importance of horticultural therapy and hospitals using therapeutic gardens cannot be overstated.  MossRehab offers this important component and the green wall provides a beautiful benefit to patients who are recovering and healing.

The LiveWall living wall has proven to be a practical and durable green wall system in The Alice and Herbert Sachs Therapeutic Conservatory. What makes this green wall truly unique? With guidance and instruction, patients in horticultural therapy sessions take care of the plants and maintain the wall as part of their therapy.