NUI Galway and heart and stroke charity Croí have joined forces to design a cardiovascular-themed garden to educate people about heart health.
The #CroiGarden will feature at Ireland’s annual garden festival in the Phoenix Park, Bloom in the Park, over the June Bank Holiday weekend from Thursday June 2 to Monday June 6.
The #CroiGarden highlights the importance of the three cardiovascular pillars - blood sugar (diabetes ), blood pressure (hypertension ) and blood lipid (cholesterol ) control. In addition, the other key trinity of diet, exercise and mental health feature as part of the garden’s theme.
Project lead and garden designer, Professor Derek O’Keeffe, who is also Professor of Medical Device Technology at NUI Galway and a consultant physician at Galway University Hospitals, says the #CroiGarden represents a unique educational opportunity to remind people of the importance of looking after their heart health through blood sugar, blood pressure and blood cholesterol control, while paying attention to diet, exercise and mental health.
"Many garden plants give us the compounds for medications - the French Lilac flower gives us the compounds for diabetes medications such as Glucophage (Metformin ) and Willow trees give us cardiovascular medications such as Aspirin. The garden design incorporates architectural elements of the cardiovascular system such as large vessel-like cylindrical planting spaces and a pulsing water feature, mimicking the heartbeat and bringing movement into the space.
To highlight the global bee population collapse from the climate crisis, NUI Galway and Vodafone will also showcase robotic Drone Bees in the garden. These small, lightweight drones will communicate with sensors in the garden, connected via Vodafone’s IoT network. The Drone Bees are part of the artificial intelligence research in the NUI Galway’s Hive Lab, based at the School of Medicine.
“The robotic Drone Bees concept starts an important conversation about planetary health, biodiversity and the current global bee colony collapse and this gives an example of how to help this crisis by leaving a part of the garden wild for insects to flourish.”
Croí’s chief operations officer Mark O’Donnell, says a huge part of the focus at Croí is educating the public on the risk factors for heart disease and stroke, and preventing disease.
"Our partnership with NUI Galway’s School of Medicine on the #CroiGarden serves as a great educator around the control of risk factors like diabetes, blood pressure and cholesterol.”
The #CroiGarden is also supported by Diabetes Care West, Novo Nordisk, EireComposites and Vodafone Ireland.
Owen Treacy, country manager for Novo Nordisk, says so the #CroiGarden is the perfect fit for his pharmaceutical company, which understands the importance of educating people on positive heart health, particularly when there is such a close link between having type 2 diabetes and increasing risk of heart disease.
Anne O’Leary, CEO of Vodafone Ireland says a recent study suggests up to a 30 per cent decline of the bumblebee population in a generation due to rising temperatures.
"The Drone Bee project is a great example of using cutting-edge technology to highlight this issue, the implications it will have on our ecosystem, and the broader effects of the climate crisis.”
Bord Bia Bloom Show garden manager and Galway native is Kerrie Gardiner, who says the Croí garden is a great concept that will attract considerable visitor engagement.
“I think the show gardens at Bord Bia Bloom are going to be really special this year. Some have been on the drawing board since 2019, so it’s exciting to see them finally coming together."
For more on the Croí Garden at Bloom, see www.croi.ie/Bloom
To vote for the Croí Garden at the Bloom Garden People' Choice Award, text GARDEN1 to 51500 (standard rate SMS ). The vote is open from 9am on Thursday June 2 to 1pm on Monday June 6. 2022. Votes after this time will not be counted but SMS rates still apply. Follow the voting instructions exactly or the vote may not come through. One vote per person per garden only. SMS Provider: Púca. Votes open to ROI & NI residents only.
Would you like unlimited FREE access to all that the Galway Advertiser has to offer? Find out more here!
