Recycled flowers bring patients joy at Kaiser Permanente Redwood City

Delivering beautiful free flower arrangements to Kaiser Permanente Redwood City hospital patients makes Sara Fondriest smile a lot. As she wheeled her cart of arrangements from room-to-room on the 7th floor of the hospital recently, Sara was also bringing smiles to Kaiser Permanente patients, and at the same time, she was taking action for sustainability.

“That’s what I studied in college,” said Fondriest, who is Program Manager of the local branch of “ Random Acts of Flowers,” a national non-profit. “These are all recycled flowers: we get them donated from social events, like weddings, after the last guest leaves, and also from retailers.”

Fondriest said that big stores that sell fresh flowers can only keep them fresh for a short time, and after that, the flowers are donated to Random Acts of Flower, which has a Silicon Valley headquarters in Menlo Park.

There, volunteers recycle the flowers by creating arrangements in small vases that are then taken to nursing homes and hospital patients. Redwood City is the first Kaiser Permanente hospital that is accepting the donated blooms.

“I brought 70 arrangements in the truck today,” said Sara, as she wheeled three carts of flowers into a hospital elevator. “Only the Kaiser Permanente nurses know we’re making a delivery today, for the patients, the flowers are a big surprise.”

Sara knocks gently on each door at Kaiser Permanente Redwood City, asks with a smile if she can come in; the patients usually say yes, and Sara goes into the room carrying the floral arrangement.

“Everyone today was really excited getting the flowers,” says Sara, between deliveries. “It’s showing the patients here in the hospital at Kaiser Permanente that they’re really cared about.”

“Random Acts of Flowers” was founded 2008 in Knoxville, Tennessee. Part of its mission is to reduce waste from lightly used and unsold flowers and other flower materials. But it’s also dedicated to improving the emotional health and wellbeing of those in healthcare settings.

“What a wonderful act of kindness!” said Michele Gaskill-Hames, Senior Vice President and Area Manager at the Kaiser Permanente Redwood City Medical Center. “These flowers are a really fantastic way to bring smiles to Kaiser Permanente’s patients here in the hospital.”

To deliver the recycled flowers inside Kaiser Permanente, Sara was trained and certified as a Kaiser Permanente volunteer, and she works with other volunteers and staff while she makes her rounds. Sara tries to leave at least one arrangement for the nurses.

“The beautiful flowers and her smile brightened my day in the hospital,” said 90-year-old Kin Fai Lee of Belmont, while Lee’s daughters took a picture of him with Sara, and the arrangement.