Healing garden opens at Seattle VA hospital

SEATTLE — Veterans have a new place at the VA hospital in Seattle to heal their body, mind and soul.

“When you shut these doors, it’s like you're in another place. You don’t hear the noise, the bustle,” Cyril Miller said.

The healing garden is a refuge from the chaos for veterans like Miller, who is also part of Veterans and Friends of Puget Sound.

It was a budding idea that grew out of love.

"This was a lifelong dream," Miller added.

Even he has a hard time believing that, just months ago, the previously vacant area has blossomed into a sacred space.

It's all thanks to the public's support, and the hard work of students from University of Washington's Department of Landscape Architecture

“These people deserve it,” student Royce Utterback said.

Utterback admits, initially, it started out as just another project.

“It became more and transcended the school obligation for us and became something a lot more important,” Utterback explained.

“As these kids started to transform the space, you could feel the change that was coming to this hospital,” Miller said.

Miller hopes the transformation won't end there, and that the therapeutic benefits of nature will help the healing within for veterans and their families.

“So they can come in here and say we had people who thought about us and this is what they left us,” Miller said.

The healing garden was also made possible thanks to $80,000 in donations from the public.

Cox Media Group