If you live in Halton, Ont. If you are, your doctor may now advise you to touch some grass.
Conservation Halton has partnered with Halton Healthcare And PaRx offers up to 10 free tours of the region's conservation areas with a prescription for nature.
“Anything we can do to help people have a better quality of life, we should try to do,” said Craig Machon, director of parks and operations at Conservation Halton.
Machan said being able to disconnect and walk in the fresh air is “so important.”
He said 75 percent of prescriptions are for mental health.
“But there are also opportunities to improve your physical health,” Machan said.
“We have 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 launched the initiative in 2020.
Jenny McCaffrey, vice-president of health and education at the BC Parks Foundation, said the program was launched not only to connect people with nature, but to advance conservation.
“It's really proven that when people are connected to nature, they're more likely to engage in long-term environmental behavior,” she told CBC Hamilton.
She said one of the program's goals is to recognize nature as the “fourth pillar of health.”
The program has many partners across the country, including Parks Canada, the Canadian Medical Association, the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority, and more.
Interim Vice President of Medical Affairs of Halton Healthcare Dr. Stephen Chin said that a 20-minute walk outside “can make a big difference in our health by lowering our cortisol levels.”
Halton Healthcare said in a statement that they are the first hospital system to partner with the PaRx program.
But spending time in nature, not just outside, can improve mental health, lower blood pressure and even improve life expectancy, Chin said.
“Hopefully, this is a trigger for them to a completely healthy lifestyle, and it's a starting point for many,” he said.
Once the patient gets a natural prescription, they can go PaRx websiteSelect their area and park, and register their prescription to receive their free pass.
Chin said the barrier to getting this prescription is low.
“There's no reason why someone shouldn't be more physically active,” he said. “Because of that, I think these prescriptions will probably be more readily available and freely given.”
The Toronto man says the program has helped him
Toronto resident Tom Gannon Hamilton was hit by a car a year ago, and one thing he didn't expect was his nature's prescription.
“I was crossing … at Woodbine and Danforth in Toronto, and a car literally came out of nowhere, and hit me full force,” Hamilton said.
He suffered fractures to his hip and wrist, stitches to his left temple and other injuries. Recovery has been a long road, but his scheduled nature time has made a big difference, he said.
Hamilton said he's still “not 100 percent,” but thanks to his prescription, he's “a lot better than if I didn't have Nature Pass.”
Hamilton is a musician and a writer. He said he was an outsider before getting the prescription, but with the additional access, he found other areas of his life improved as well.
“I'm doing very highly as a result of this kind of programmatic approach to bringing health care and nature together,” he said.
Connecting more people to nature
Gord Costey, Director of Conservation Area Services with the Hamilton Conservation Authority (HCA), told CBC Hamilton staff are also considering implementing the PaRx program.
Costi said the program fits into their strategic plan to connect more people with nature.
“We want people to use our conservation areas,” he said. “We want them to experience nature.”
Hamilton said he hopes the program will expand 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 we can do to sustain health so that we don't treat everything as a need for treatment.”
