Thompson group DIGs to boost pollinators

CANANDAIGUA — UR Medicine Thompson Health has for many years encouraged its associates to form “Do It Groups” – referred to internally as DIGs — to bring about positive changes within the health system.

Past DIGs have implemented new technology to benefit patients, created helpful bereavement resource materials for patients’ families, and brought about additional training to help the staff spot signs of human trafficking.

It’s not often, though, that DIG members do actual digging and that’s what makes one of the latest DIGs unique.

Headed by Emma Bolton of the Hospitalist Office, the group consists of associates from a number of departments who are united by a shared concern regarding population drops in local honeybees and other native pollinators, most notably with the news of monarch butterflies reaching endangered status in July of this year.

“These losses are due to a multitude of reasons including pesticide and herbicide use, general habitat loss, planting of nonnative species, and climate change,” Bolton said, noting she and fellow DIG members are mindful of the fact that “we depend on native bees, butterflies, birds, and other insects to keep our community beautiful and full of life; to pollinate our food, flowers, and trees.”

At the eastern entrance to Thompson’s Canandaigua Medical Group along Parrish Street, the DIG created a new, 30- by 16-foot habitat with plants including spicebush, asters, black-eyed Susans, butterfly weed, Joe Pye weed, and more.

Bolton said the fully organic and native garden is designed specifically to give back to the grounds upon which Thompson associates serve others. “We are privileged here at Thompson to serve in a beautiful and diverse community. Now we believe it is time for us to extend the ‘Thompson Way’ beyond our patients, to the other creatures we cohabitate with in this area,” she said.

Director of Facility Services Jim Dietz was among those who signed up to join Bolton in the endeavor. “It’s just another way to give back to the community, and it’s something for associates and all others to enjoy,” he said.

Dietz and his wife Abby Dietz — a nurse at Thompson’s Macedon Family Practice — donated black-eyed Susans originally given to Abby by a special person she worked with many years ago.

Bolton said several other people within Thompson also donated plants, as did Amanda’s Native Garden in Dansville, Bristol’s Garden Center in Victor, and White Oak Nursery in Canandaigua. One Thompson staff member donated a birdbath and the City of Canandaigua donated mulch, while a group of Penn Yan Cub Scouts who were working to earn a badge collaborated to provide bird houses.

The DIG will be designating the garden as a certified wildlife refuge under the National Wildlife Federation. It will be added to a country-wide database of other native gardens and feature signage to educate people on its function.

Those interested in learning more about the benefits of native gardening and removal of lawns can go to www.nwf.org for information. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation website, at www.dec.ny.gov, also has a list of native plants to include in a landscape.

“The garden is just a beginning point for us to join the movement, but I am hopeful we can continue to use it for education and fun projects,” Bolton said,. “There has even been talk of raising and releasing monarchs here in the spring!”