Possessing parallel tracts of stunning and unspoiled lands, Canadian healthcare practitioners are joining onto an American movement to prescribe national parks to improve their patients' physical and mental health.

PaRx Canada now consists of over 1,000 physicians, nurses, and other medical professionals in B.C., Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Ontario who can prescribe the annual Adult Parks Canada Discovery Pass from the Canadian parks authority—which is normally $72.25 annually for adults aged 18-64 and $61.75 for seniors (65+).

The pass gives people free entrance to over 80 national parks, national historic sites, and national marine conservation areas—and the nature prescription program is expected to spread across every province and territory by the end of 2022.

As a growing body of evidence began to find that being in nature can have a profound influence on our health and well-being, Park Prescriptions America began as a grassroots movement in the United States over a decade ago, and has now spread to countries around the world.

In the States, the program allows physicians to use zip codes to find nearby parks to prescribe to patients. Once a script has been written, through a simple software it's easy for physicians to send reminders to fulfill it, and to track how many times a patient has visited the prescribed park.

Park Prescriptions Canada, founded in 2020, is the first such organization in the Great White North.

"There are no costs to patients for participating in our program," a spokesperson for PaRx told WS. "Participating healthcare providers have the opportunity to prescribe an Adult Parks Canada Discovery Pass, which provides free admission to over 80 locations," they said, adding that various park-like spaces within major cities, such as the University of British Colombia Botanical Gardens, will also be free under the program.

"We are very lucky in Canada to have a world of beautiful natural spaces at our doorstep to enjoy healthy outdoor activities. Medical research now clearly shows the positive health benefits of connecting with nature. This exciting collaboration with PaRx is a breakthrough for how we treat mental and physical health challenges, and couldn't come at a better time… " said Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and Climate Change and Minister responsible for Parks Canada in a statement.

A University of Saskatchewan student, speaking with CBC news, described the idea that nature should be looked at as the "fourth pillar" of health, alongside diet, exercise, and sleep.

Dr. Melissa Lem, a Vancouver-based family physician who launched PaRX in Canada with the BC Parks Foundation, has described being proud to help grow Canada's first national, evidence-based nature prescription program.

She told reporters that PaRX is hoping to expand the nature prescription to include transportation options that stop at or include parks on their transit lines. This way those inside major cities, or people who may not have access to a car, can share in nature's benefits.

(WATCH the CBC video for this story below.)

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