Landscaping soothes kidney patients

[okarol]

Landscaping soothes kidney patients

By Paul Huggins
phuggins@decaturdaily.com · 340-2395

No beautification award can surpass Lorene Swann’s smile every time she arrives for a blood transfusion at Nephrology of North Alabama.

Her daughter, Patricia Borden, drives her from Lacon to the kidney specialist on Somerville Road Southeast every two weeks, and though the treatments improve her mother’s health, Borden said her mother dreads getting jabbed with a needle.

“When I bring her and we turn into the entrance, she’s like ‘Oh, look at the flowers. Aren’t they beautiful?’ ” Borden said. “If it makes my mother happy for just a little bit, then I’m tickled.”

Nephrology of North Alabama was one of 63 Decatur properties recognized with an annual Decatur Beautification Award on Tuesday.

Properties are judged on design, maintenance, construction, plantings and litter control. Winners must receive a grade of 95 or better (out of 100). Fourteen judges from out of town grade the properties nominated by the community. Six honorable mention recipients graded at least 90.

Nephrology of North Alabama doesn’t perform dialysis at the clinic. The three doctors, Daniel Gifford, Reginald Gladish and Duncan Scott, try to keep their patients off dialysis or train them to self-administer dialysis at home. They’re the only kidney specialists in town, so the doctors know they don’t have to beautify their clinic to attract customers.

“It’s bad enough to come to a doctor’s office anyway, but our patients tend to have a lot of chronic illness and we wanted to make it a place that’s pleasant to come to,” Dr. Gifford said. “If it becomes a pleasant site, then it becomes an easier place to come.”

Gifford moved into the building last fall and asked Leigh Ann Hill of the landscape service Horti-Tech to enhance it with new flowerbeds and flowers. The summer lineup includes salvia, dusty millers and petunias.

“We’ve seen a lot of positive response to the landscaping,” Gifford said. “It’s peaceful and colorful and we get comments almost every day.”