Greenhouse opens for wounded Fort Riley soldiers

FORT RILEY, Kansas (AP) - Officials at Fort Riley are hoping the healing power of horticulture will help wounded soldiers recover from some of their injuries.

A ribbon-cutting took place Monday for the new occupational therapy greenhouse garden at the northeastern Kansas post. WIBW-TV reports (http://bit.ly/NZCxWX ) it will serve soldiers with the Warrior Transition Battalion and those in the Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Clinic.

They'll start by growing and maintaining common household plants and will work up to fruit and vegetable gardens.

Col. Craig Webb, acting commander of Irwin Army Community Hospital, says that soldiers with mild traumatic brain injury may have problems with fine-motor movement. Tasks at the greenhouse, such as using their hands to care for plants, is intended to help.

Volunteers from Fort Riley and the community worked to build the greenhouse.

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Information from: WIBW-TV.