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I never imagined that one of the most difficult decisions of my life would be made in a garden. I’m D’Lynn Ottmar, Chief Development Officer at TriState Health Foundation. In September 2018, I moved back home to the Lewis-Clark Valley to help care for my parents and be closer to family, not realizing how little time I had left with my dad.

In May 2019, my dad became ill. At first, we thought it was a cold or the flu, but it wasn’t. One day, he collapsed and was rushed to Spokane. I received a call telling me he needed emergency surgery. After a harrowing procedure and days in the hospital, doctors sat us down to explain his condition and the options before us. None of them were easy and none offered the future we hoped for.

At some point, the responsibility fell to me to make a life-altering decision: whether to let my dad go. I needed air. I needed space. I needed somewhere to breathe.

Across the hall from my dad’s hospital room was a garden. As I sat there on the phone with my aunt, explaining my dad’s condition and the choices we faced, I could hear her grief and fear echo my own. Inside the hospital were beeping monitors, bright lights, and clinical conversations. Outside was quiet. There was greenery, fresh air, and a place that allowed me to slow down.

Sitting in that garden didn’t erase the pain, but it softened the edges. Watching the leaves move in the wind, seeing bees drift from flower to flower, hearing birds sing…it grounded me. It gave me the privacy and clarity I needed to focus, to breathe, and to make a decision that would forever change our lives.

In that space, surrounded by nature, I found the strength to do what I knew my dad would want, even though it broke my heart. The garden didn’t make the decision for me, but it made it possible for me to face it. That experience is why the Healing Garden matters.

Every day, families are asked to make impossible choices during moments of deep vulnerability. Providers and nurses carry the weight of delivering devastating news. A Healing Garden offers more than beauty, it offers peace in chaos, comfort in grief, and strength when it is needed most.

Today, TriState Health Foundation is seeking visionary partners to help raise $750,000 to create and sustain this sacred space for generations to come, so it is available for every patient, family member, and employee who needs a place to pause, gather strength, and breathe.

Significant naming opportunities are available for those who wish to honor a loved one, celebrate a legacy, or demonstrate a deep commitment to compassionate care. A named Healing Garden, water feature, pathway, seating area, privacy fencing, or contemplative element becomes a lasting tribute, one that will offer comfort to hundreds of families each year.

We at the Foundation invite you to consider a gift that reflects the importance of this space. Your investment will help ensure no family has to face life’s hardest moments without a place to breathe. Together, we can make healing possible, even in the midst of goodbye.