GOODYEAR, Ariz.–A Southwest Valley hospital used idle land to plant a farm that now produces nutritious food for patients, visitors and staff.
Cancer Treatment Centers of America at Western Regional Medical Center in Goodyear has a 25-acre farm that will soon expand another 44 acres.
The farm, just north of the for-profit hospital, has rows of crops and fruit trees surrounding a small lake used to water the crops.
Since 2012, fresh vegetables and fruits have made it from the soil to the tables of patients and employees with no middle man.
The farm is the brainchild of executive chef Frank Caputo, who noticed empty land with good soil abutting the hospital. Caputo said he believes in the healing properties of nutritious food. He asked the hospital board if he could plant a farm, and the hospital board approved.
"We've always provided our patients with the highest quality of certified organic produce and meats since we opened in 2008," Caputo said. "We now grow our own food on-site and deliver delicious, highly nutritional meals to our patients and employees on the same day we've gone out and picked it from the vine or pulled it out of the ground. It's just incredible."