Sometimes a walk is just what the doctor ordered. That’s the idea behind the Park Prescription Program (Park Rx), a national movement where providers prescribe their patients outings to parks and open spaces in nature as a means to help them lead more healthy, active lives. For Dr. Laurie Bostick- Cammon, a pediatrician at the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center (SCVMC), Park Rx was also her chance to connect her passion for nature with her patients’ well-being.
As a child growing up in Detroit, Dr. Cammon always felt connected to nature. Her best memories were of playing in her backyard – climbing and swinging from her beloved maple tree. Once she moved to California, she enjoyed access to vast, outdoor spaces but was surprised to learn that many of her patients had trouble accessing these spaces. Most of Dr. Cammon’s patients, 85 percent of whom are Spanish-speaking immigrants, lacked access to Santa Clara County’s 50,000 acres of public parks and open spaces. She set out to change that reality.
As the medical director of the JUNTOS Santa Clara County Park Prescription Initiative, which serves as a liaison between patients and their families, clinic staff, public health and county parks, Dr. Cammon saw an opportunity to combine her work and passion for nature. She dreamed of implementing a patient care approach that integrates healthy walks in Santa Clara’s broad network of regional parks.
Working in close partnership with the Santa Clara County Public Health Department, the Park Rx program was implemented in 2017. The collaboration between Dr. Cammon’s clinic, the health department, and the Santa Clara County Parks and Recreation Department, with funding from the Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority, has opened the outdoors to more than 2,000 participants.
On a biweekly basis, the Santa Clara Park Rx program offers patients and their families free, guided access to local parks, including paid transportation. Participants are accompanied by providers, other families, a park interpreter, and Spanish-speaking guides, which allows for organic relationships and trust to form between patients, their family and their providers.
Once patients came out to the park with us, they felt more connected, so when we saw them in the clinic, they really opened up. It helped develop that trust and bond with the families that we didn’t have before.
Dr. Laurie Bostick Cammon, Santa Clara County, Pediatrician
“Park Rx really complements my medical practice. We’ve seen patients in our clinic for years and couldn’t figure out what barriers were keeping them from developing healthy lifestyles. Once patients came out to the park with us, they felt more connected, so when we saw them in the clinic, they really opened up. It helped develop that trust and bond with the families that we didn’t have before. I think this helped strengthen the provider-patient relationship and build that trust that helps us provide better medical care.”
In addition to working with the local health department to grow funding and partnerships, Dr. Cammon has created an administrative system that allows her clinic to follow up with Park Rx patients and recruit additional providers. She says the Park Rx program will soon expand to include all pediatric clinics in the SCVMC. Using skills honed through the Fellowship, she’s also become a regular speaker at local and national organizations addressing her work and how to implement a similar model.
Through the Park Rx program, Dr. Cammon connected her love of nature with her passion for serving her community. Her next step is working with the Santa Clara County Health Department on a Children’s Outdoor Bill of Rights to develop systems changes that lead to better health outcomes and more equitable park and open space access for all.
