Four landscape architecture students volunteered their time to help make a UF Health patient’s design for a rock garden come to fruition.
Thanks to the help from landscape architecture students Joey Amodo, Nathania Martinez, Christopher Nelson and Breana Ross, Dan Angeles’ design is featured through May 31 at the Harn Museum’s Asian Rock Garden.
Angeles, a 21-year-old college graduate, has been diagnosed with metastatic osteosarcoma and came to UF Health for treatment. His participation in the design was made possible through a partnership between UF Health Shands Arts in Medicine program, the UF Innovation Academy and the Harn Museum.
“A year ago, as a case study for therapeutic garden design, our Planting Design studio toured the Asian Rock Garden at the Harn Museum with Asian Rock Garden Specialist Martin McKellar,” Martinez said. “Months later, there was a call for student volunteers to help with the garden’s maintenance and I applied along with my three peers. We were introduced to the collaborative Trial program with UF Health Shands Arts in Medicine, gave feedback to the engineering students working on prototypes for a 3-D printed-to-scale handheld rake and waited patiently to realize this year’s first patient design.”
“Dan Angeles’ design is the first that I have helped rake into the garden,” Martinez added. “His effervescent smile the day we video called him to walk him through it is imprinted to my memory. I look forward to continue this work with more patients from the Arts in Medicine program over the course of the year, for it is truly inspiring.”
To read more about Angeles and his design, visit https://ufhealth.org/blog/moment-zen-dan-angeles.
Photos courtesy of Martin McKellar and Paige Willis from the Harn Museum.
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