Native trees and shrubs provided by the Intervale Center
Vermont Business Magazine Burlington’s UVM Medical Center and Intervale Center are helping hospital workers celebrate Earth Day 2023 by providing them free Vermont native trees and shrubs to plant in their gardens or landscape at home.
Volunteers spread trees and shrubs on the roof lawn on UVM Medical Center’s main campus and in Fanny Allen’s garden today, said Diane Imrie, director of nutritional services at the medical center and chair of the hospital’s sustainability council.
This year, employees can choose from three native Vermont species: chokeberry, elderberry, or serviceberry. Each of the plants produces edible berries and is beneficial to pollinators, birds and wildlife, said Kiana French of the Intervale Center. The plants are also non-invasive and do not compete with existing, native plant communities.
The focus not only on climate cleanup, but also on environmental best practices and sustainability is an intentional focus for this year’s Earth Day observances, Imrie said.
“We know that growing more trees is good for air quality and helps reduce the carbon in our atmosphere,” Imrie said. “So it’s this commitment to reducing carbon and a healthy planet while doing things that provide food and shelter for birds, bees and wildlife.”
Last year, Imrie said, the hospital distributed more than 600 trees – again all native species that produce edible fruit – to staff. The Sustainability Council expects up to 900 to be awarded this year.
About the University of Vermont Medical Center
The University of Vermont Medical Center is a 499-bed regional tertiary care referral center providing advanced care to approximately 1 million residents in Vermont and upstate New York. Together with our partners at Larner College of Medicine at the University of Vermont and the College of Nursing and Health Sciences, we are Vermont’s academic medical center. The University of Vermont Medical Center also serves as a community hospital for approximately 150,000 residents in Chittenden and Grand Isle counties.
The University of Vermont Medical Center is a member of the University of Vermont Health Network, an integrated system established to provide quality academic medicine to all of the communities we serve.
For more information, visit www.UVMHealth.org/MedCenter
Source: 4/28/2023. Burlington, Vt. – The UVM Medical Center
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