Garden offers serenity

Coping with the side effects of cancer can be physically and mentally draining on patients and their families.

Schneck Medical Center is now offering a unique form of comfort and care to those touched by cancer with its new Serenity Garden.

Set in a private, brick-enclosed area behind the Don and Dana Myers Cancer Center off West Tipton Street, the garden features a variety of trees, flowers and bushes, a walkway, water falls and a pond and sitting areas.

With electrical outlets located throughout, cancer patients will be able to take their chemotherapy treatments outdoors.

Members of the community, cancer patients and survivors are invited to attend an open house for the garden from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday. Visitors will be able to tour the garden and cancer center.

Those who attend will receive a bookmark embedded with wildflower seeds as a reminder of the event.

At 4:30 p.m. a custom glass art piece will be unveiled in honor of longtime Jackson County philanthropist Juanita Groub, who helped turn the Serenity Garden from an idea into reality.

Etched in the glass is an inspirational saying Groub selected.

"Life's not about waiting for the storm to pass ... It's about learning to dance in the rain."

"I just really liked it," Groub said of the quote, which is attributed to an unknown author.

After hearing that the garden was not going to be built because of financial constraints, Groub took measures into her own hands.

She made a donation of an undisclosed amount to the Schneck Medical Center Foundation, specifically for the creation of the garden.

Groub's family has been part of the local community for more than 150 years, founding Jay C Food Stores in Seymour in 1862. Her husband was the late T.T. "Tom" Groub.

"The Groub name has been in Seymour for a long time, and I wanted to do something to keep it a part of the community," she said. "I thought something like this would be a good way to do that."

Not one to want much attention, Groub said she had planned to make the donation quietly.

"It's more than I expected," she said of how the garden turned out. "I'm very pleased with the whole thing."

Also making a donation to the project was the Spirited Young Farmers in Brownstown. The group donated several flower urns located throughout the garden.

"We had been looking for something to do as a memorial for deceased family members," group member Teresa Ticen said. "Instead of making just a general donation to the cancer center or planting a tree we wanted to make a large, more permanent donation."

Rexanne Ude, executive director of the Schneck Foundation, said the garden will help cancer patients heal in more than just a physical way.

"There are different sides to healing, and this garden plays into the emotional and spiritual healing for both patients and their families," she said.

Sally Acton, director of oncology at the cancer center, said she is "very excited" to see the garden completed.

"I've been in oncology for 23 years and many patients have commented that they would love to be able to have their treatments outdoors when it's nice," she said. "Cancer treatment can be very stressful and the garden will help comfort them."

Acton's favorite feature is the multiple waterfalls that flow into a central pond.

"It's just very relaxing to sit there and listen to the bubbling sounds of the water," she said. "I think a garden like this can be really important for patients emotionally, and they know that it is there just for them."

Other contributors

Also contributing to the project were contractor Steve Blackburn of Hoosier Industrial Electric in North Vernon, NaturalScape Services Inc. in Seymour, Mark Pardieck of Pardiecks Inc. in Seymour, former foundation director Joe Joiner, Werskey Masonry in Seymour and GRT in Indianapolis.

If you go

What: Open house and dedication of Serenity Garden
When: 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday; a piece of glass artwork will be unveiled at 4:30 p.m.
Where: Don and Dana Myers Cancer Center, 200 S. Pine St., Seymour