Nature Play WA recently welcomed esteemed clinical psychologist, Dr Maren Østvold Lindheim, from Oslo University Hospital, Norway, to Perth. Dr Lindheim’s visit marked a significant milestone in …
Friluftssykehuset Foundation is a charitable foundation with the goal to strengthen the treatment options of short term- and long term patients by building and donating cabins to hospitals. Friluftssykehuset in Norwegian translates to ‘Open Air Hospital’, or Outdoor Care Retreats.
The treehouse-inspired units are designed to receive patients and their friends and families for treatment, support and contemplation, offering a uniquely conceived physical and psychological respite from the demanding processes of healthcare treatment.
The initiative was founded by Håvard Hernes in 2015, in collaboration with the Department of Psychosomatics and CL-Child Psychiatry at Oslo University Hospital (Rikshospitalet), and with the help of generous contributors and supporters.
The Outdoor Care Retreats are placed in a natural environment in close proximity to the hospitals. This gives the patients and their families a chance to be sheltered in a special setting in stark contrast to the typical hospital rooms, but still close enough to receive emergency medical help. The cabins are open to every patient connected to the hospitals regardless of their type of disease.
On the 8th of June 2019, the Norwegian Minister of Health, Bent Høie, opened the first Outdoor Care Retreat at Oslo University Hospital Rikshospitalet, and shortly after another unit was opened in Kristiansand Hospital in the south of Norway.
Maren Østvold Lindheim
Child psychologist, Oslo University Hospital
The Foundation’s vision is for the Outdoor Care Retreats to become ‘organic bridges’ between hospitals and nature, where patients, families, employees and other hospital users can find peace, meaning and wholeness in the midst of crisis and recovery. Safe inter-human contact and elemental experiences in a natural environment has a documented positive influence on recovery and coping with disease and building resilient immune-systems. We want to make nature experiences available to patients with all types of illnesses and disabilities.
OUR GOALS
We want to improve the health treatment people receive at the hospitals. We are now working to make the Outdoor Care Retreats a new standard at all the Norwegian Hospitals, and we want to inspire hospitals all around the world to do the same.
Our plan is to build five more cabins by 2020. We are now seeking financial support to ensure that the project can be anchored in national healthcare and strengthen the holistic treatment options in nordic health institutions.
The Outdoor Care Retreats are donated to the hospital, and the individual hospital is responsible for administration and management of each unit.
Kjetil Thorsen
Founder, Snøhetta
The cabins are designed in collaboration with the famous Norwegian architecture- and design firm Snøhetta. They are built as two modules at the construction factory of contractor Lindalgruppen AS. This method shortens the construction time, since the two pieces can be transported and erected directly onto the building site – comparable to big building blocks.The design of the buildings are the same, but the difference in locations and surrounding ecology makes each cabin feel unique. The outdoor wood panelling is treated with Kebony, which is a sustainable material which will turn a natural grey with time. The area outside the cabins are lighted in specific places on the ground and in the trees, which creates a complete experience of nature both on the inside and the outside of the cabins.
The background to the collaboration was a shared desire to create a good place in nature for patients and relatives.
Today there are two Outdoor Care Retreat Hospitals, one at Rikshospitalet and Sørlandet Hospital, to the joy and relief for the users. The vision is that this will become a standard at every Norwegian and eventually foreign hospitals and institutions. And to realize this, we need more supporters and donations.
