By: Amber J. Houston
This year doctors across the country are not following the traditional way of giving prescriptions. They have found a new way of curing ailments for their patients -which is by giving prescriptions that no longer come in the common pill form. The newfound interest in Park Rx programs has been on a major rise this year. The Park Rx programs prescribe mandatory time that must be spent outdoors at local parks for patients. This time spent at parks is what is used as a form of medicine for common illnesses such as anxiety and depression, hypertension and diabetes.
Park Rx has hundreds of different programs across America, some of which are actually non-profit for example, Park Rx America, which was founded in 2017 by Dr. Robert Zarr. These parks are not just simple recreational parks. Land professionals and health professionals work together to determine each park’s needs. These Park Prescription programs are just as diverse as the communities they serve. Healthcare providers, as well as both park and land agencies collaborate in order to determine what is most needed depending on the park’s location and its people in that given area.
Not only are Park Rx programs a much healthier way for people to be cured, but this is also great for the environment considering that more emphasis will likely be put on finding more accessible green spaces. Both science and medicine are continuing to confirm that spending time in nature is great for our health and this fact alone is great for the environment because we now have support from those in the medical profession to add on to the way we are able to better protect and build on to our environment,(outside of recycling at that,) rather than destroying it. Park prescriptions are extremely important for our society as well as our environment. They provide free medicine, all the while helping save our green space.
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