If you’re in Halton, Ont., your doctor can now prescribe that you touch some grass.
Conservation Halton has partnered with Halton Healthcare and PaRx to offer up to 10 free visits to conservation areas in the region when receiving a prescription for nature.
“Anything that we can do to help people have a better quality of life, we should try to do,” said Craig Machan, director of parks and operations at Conservation Halton.
Machan said being able to disconnect and walk through fresh air is “so important.”
He said 75 per cent of prescriptions written are for mental health.
“But there are opportunities to improve your physical well-being as well,” said Machan.
“We’ve got a lot of trails that are flat and they’re easy to walk on.”
‘Fourth pillar of health’
The program officially launched Dec. 2 in the Halton region, which includes Burlington, Oakville, Milton and Halton Hills, but the BC Parks Foundation started the initiative in 2020.
Jennie McCaffrey, vice president of health and education at the BC Parks Foundation said the program was started not just to connect people to nature, but also to advance conservation.
“It’s been really proven that when people are connected to nature, they’re more likely to engage in pro-environmental behaviours for the long-term,” she told CBC Hamilton.
She said one of the program’s goals is for nature to be recognized as the “fourth pillar of health.”
The program has several partners across the country, including Parks Canada, the Canadian Medical Association, Toronto and Region Conservation Authority, and more.
Dr. Stephen Chin, interim vice president for medical affairs at Halton Healthcare said walking outside for 20 minutes “can make a big difference in our health by triggering a drop in our cortisol levels.”
Halton Healthcare said in a statement they are the first hospital system to partner with the PaRx program.
But beyond just being outside, spending time in nature can also improve mental health, lower blood pressure, and “even [extend] life expectancy,” said Chin.
“Hopefully, it’s a trigger toward having a healthier lifestyle altogether for them, and it’s a starting point for many,” he said.
Once a patient gets a nature prescription, they can go to the PaRx website, select their region and park, and register their prescription to get their free pass.
Chin said the barrier to get this prescription is low.
“There’s almost no reason why someone should not be more physically active,” he said. “For that reason, I think these prescriptions will likely be readily available and freely given.”
Toronto man says program has helped him
Toronto resident Tom Gannon Hamilton was struck by a car just over a year ago, and one thing he didn’t expect would help is his nature prescription.
“I was crossing … at Woodbine and Danforth in Toronto, and a car came really out of nowhere, and struck me full force,” Hamilton said.
He had fractures in his pelvis and wrist, stitches on his left temple, and other bruises. Recovery has been a long road, but his prescribed nature time has made a big difference, he said.
Hamilton said he’s not “100 per cent” yet, but thanks to his prescription, he’s “way better off than I would be if I hadn’t had the nature pass.”
Hamilton is a musician and a writer. He said he was already an outdoorsy person before getting the prescription, but with the extra access, he’s also found other areas of his life have improved.
“I’m much higher functioning as a result of having this kind of a programmatic approach to bringing health care and nature together,” he said.
Connecting more people to nature
Gord Costie, director of Conservation Area Services with the Hamilton Conservation Authority (HCA), told CBC Hamilton staff are also considering implementing the PaRx program.
Costie said the program would fit their strategic plan to connect more people to nature.
“We want people to use our conservation areas,” he said. “We want them to experience nature.”
Hamilton said he hopes the program will extend to other local conservation areas.
“We need to expand our understanding of what health is,” he said.
“We have to understand that there are things that we can do to sustain health so that we’re not treating everything as something that needs a remedy.”
