Spears Army Navy Hospital Fence on the Carriage Road

Army Navy Hospital Hot Springs, Arkansas

Once upon a time at the army Navy Hospital in Hot Springs, Arkansas the medical staff knew and utilized the healing properties of Nature.  A gate was built into the spear topped stone wall which separated the hospital grounds and Hot Springs National Park.  The new gates opened onto the carriage road (manicured dirt/grass) so patients could be wheeled or walk into the park.  After the stress of war the park offered gentle therapy to those in recovery.

Unfortunately today the gates are continually padlocked keeping the patients and their families from using the therapeutic benefits of Nature.  When I see the gates shut and wrapped in heavy chains sadness fills my Soul.  I have seen veterans peering through the gates in their wheel chairs and on crutches. It breaks my heart that they are so close yet so far from touching Nature’s healing power.

The six inch spears atop the fence loom large overwhelming the mammoth hospital buildings when I am on the park side looking at those who can no longer enter.

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