Previously owned by MD Anderson, in 2014 the facility changed ownership to Orlando Health. For more than twenty years, the cancer center has been a premier cancer treatment facility, providing exceptional cancer care to more than 80,000 patients. As technologically advanced cancer treatment grew in Central Florida, the softer side of medicine came of age. In the early 1990s, MD Anderson – Orlando added a chaplain devoted to caring for patients and their families in the hospital. This service was soon expanded to include outpatients. Programs such as high tea, spiritual bibilotherapy, palliative care and a labyrinth were incorporated to soothe the mind, body and soul.

Modeled after the labyrinth at Chartres Cathedral near Paris, France, the labyrinth here is located on the fourth floor terrace. In 2011, the Orlando Health MD Anderson Cancer Center Labyrinth Vegetated Roof Garden, originally built in 2001, was in need of repair and renovation from the roof membrane up. Tremco, Incorporated provided technical and diagnostic assistance and project management along with materials to repair and replace the roof membrane and all of the vegetated roof components.

Design of the new garden was provided by Landscape Architect Paul Verlander. P & A Roofing and Sheet Metal served as the construction contractor handling logistics, re-roofing and all other construction, sub-contracting the plant and hardscape installation to ValleyCrest Landscape Development. The project took three months to complete.

Today, the new garden serves as an integral part of the Cancer Center’s unique integration of meditation into their cancer therapy. Every element lends itself to contemplation: quiet shaded alcoves for one-on-one patient/therapist discussions, three fountains linked by a rock-lined dry creek bed and the ever-present labyrinth used as a tool to instruct patients about finding their way through crisis with spiritual growth. For patients and staff, the garden is about the healing value of hope.

Products/Materials Used:

Tremco POWERply SA Base Sheet
Tremco Fas-n-Free Adhesive
TPA 60 ml Fleece Back Cap sheet and Root Barrier
Tremco Waterdrain 302
Tremco Waterdrain VR
Extruded Polystyrene Insulation
Tremco Intensive VRSA Growing Media
3 Stone Forest granite fountains
Locally sourced stone

U.S. News & World Report consistently ranked MD Anderson Cancer Center as one of the top cancer treatment hospitals in the United States since 1990.