By David Liscio
The Daily Item

LYNN - Nature can be magically powerful, especially when it comes to healing the sick.

That fact has never been more evident at Union Hospital, part of the North Shore Medical Center (NSMC), which recently completed construction of the Dr. Harvey Zarren Healing Gardens behind the Lynnfield Street campus.

Last month, less than a year after the initial groundbreaking, the gardens were formally dedicated before a crowd of more than 100 people, the name reflecting Zarren’s 33-year career as a cardiologist and his continuing commitment to a philosophy of whole-person health.

Made possible by more than $400,000 in donations, the 23,000-square-foot woodlands directly behind the hospital’s healing atrium was transformed into a series of serene walkways that connect nearly a dozen unique garden areas for patients to enjoy.

A man-made stream circulates through the woods with help from a soundless pump. The waterway is spanned by bridges and surrounded by lush and colorful plantings, the paths punctuated by benches and handsome ornate trellises.

NSMC spokesman Kevin Ronnigen said the garden was designed specifically with healing in mind, the paths accessible for wheelchairs and hospital beds, enabling even seriously-ill patients to spend time with their loved ones in the peaceful setting of familiar trees, flowers, and birds that have marked their lives on the North Shore.

Healing gardens, popular on the West Coast, are backed by medical research that indicates spending time in nature can lower blood pressure and help surgical, cancer, and heart patients recover faster.

“The healing garden makes NSMC one of the pioneers in what is becoming a trend among hospitals across the nation,” said Ronnigen, noting that the Lynn setting was designed by architects Weinmayer-Jay Associates of Somerville.

Lynn funeral director David Solimine Sr. and his wife, Mary Jane, were major donors to the project and named the Chapel Gardens within the Healing Gardens.

Zarren, a graduate of Columbia College and Tufts University School of Medicine, practiced medicine and cardiology for more than three decades, improving the life of patents with cardiovascular disease, which takes the life of nearly 1 million Americans each year. When he left hospital practice in 2001, the healthcare center decided to honor his exceptional service by creating a garden in his name.

“The Healing Gardens are designed to entice people to move through the outer environment and into their own internal, self-healing environment,” the doctor said.

Today, Zarren is president of the Integrative Medicine Alliance, and founder and medical director of the Healing Connection at NSMC.