Blog Archives
By Amanda Jepson | Categories: | Comments Off on Healthy Harvest Mobile Market
The Community Health Strategies and Innovation team at University Health created the Healthy Harvest Mobile Market program to mitigate the number of community members residing in food deserts. The goal is to provide the community with healthy and fresh food, as well as nutrition education, healthy recipes, and infographics.
The mobile market goes to local ZIP codes that are considered food deserts to serve the community members in that area. The program works closely with community members to provide health education and high-quality produce.
The program collaborates with multiple community stakeholders, including faith-based organizations, schools, and community clinics. Through these partnerships, the Healthy Harvest Mobile Market ensures that community members understand the important relationship between diet and health.
The mobile market delivers fresh produce and nutrition education to many who otherwise would not have access. Specifically, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the market delivered enough food to nourish more than 100,000 people. Since 2021, the mobile market has served around 159,000 people.
By aoguagha | Categories: | Comments Off on ZSFG Health Advocates Program
The health care professionals of Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center (ZSFG), in San Francisco, understand health care alone does not necessarily mean good health. Social factors, such as access to food, safe housing, and education impact overall health, as well. ZSFG launched its Health Advocates program in 2013 to improve community health by connecting families with community resources that address their social needs. These needs might otherwise not have been met outside their typical hospital visits. The ZSFG Health Advocates program aims to change how people think about health.
The Health Advocate program is a student and community volunteer–based service group that conducts standardized social and legal needs screenings for patients at the ZSFG health centers for children, women, and families.
The Health Advocates program extends the care of patients and connects them directly to resources that help overcome systemic societal barriers and legal obstacles that impact health and well-being. Through the Health Advocates program, ZSFG improves the quality of life and health outcomes for families.
The ZSFG Health Advocates program connects families with existing benefits programs and external community organizations based on their level of need. The program collaborates with Bay Area Legal Aid as part of the San Francisco Medical-Legal Partnership (MLP) to provide legal advice and support to families. Families screened for more complex issues by the health advocates — family mental health issues or complicated legal challenges, for example — are connected with clinical social workers and/or lawyers from the MLP network who can provide professional support and case management.
By Amanda Jepson | Categories: | Comments Off on Health Equity Accelerator
The Health Equity Accelerator at Boston Medical Center (BMC) originated from research and development after COVID-19 highlighted multiple health inequities that would not have been uncovered in normal conditions. These discoveries, paired with BMC’s historical interest in closing the health equity gap, fuel the Health Equity Accelerator. The program’s goal is to drive racial health equity in the areas of pregnancy, infectious diseases, behavioral health, chronic conditions, and oncology and end-stage renal disease, with a vision to transform health care to deliver health justice and well-being.
The Health Equity Accelerator incorporates three foundations of health care: research, clinical care, and community, including social determinants of health (SDOH). The Accelerator team consists of executive leadership, project managers and analysts, community navigators, and research experts. This team breaks problems down into core elements and, through research and evaluation, identifies and implements innovations to combat the problem. The team will partner with community leaders to seek insight on how well those solutions and interventions affect the target issues. The program aims to serve patients and their communities, specifically those of color, that face immense health inequities.
The Health Equity Accelerator’s strategy aims to promote four pillars to collaborate and complement each other in the mission. These groups include clinical operations, community and SDOH, research and evaluation, and policy and advocacy. The Accelerator team also identifies external partners interested in participating in interventions to help communities BMC and other health institutions share.
The Accelerator’s Equity in Pregnancy program focuses on improving the rate of severe maternal morbidity for mothers of color and the rate of babies of color born small for gestational age. Through research, the program identified gaps and developed recommendations that will help close those gaps. Another project focused on empowering people of color, who were at a higher risk for disease transmission, to make informed decisions regarding COVID-19 vaccinations.
By Amanda Jepson | Categories: | Comments Off on Fresh for You Market
Eskenazi Health has a strong belief in the concept of food as medicine, a pillar of the health system’s Beyond Barriers campaign. In Indianapolis, 41 percent of children younger than age 5 suffer from malnutrition, and in Marion County, 21 percent of residents live in a food desert. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, nearly 200,000 county residents identified as food insecure. Through the Fresh for You Market and the Fresh for You Market on Wheels, Eskenazi Health is combating food insecurity in the community and providing residents with access to nutritional and affordable food.
The Fresh for You Market, a grocery store and food pantry, is located on the Eskenazi Health downtown campus on a bus route easily accessible to the community. The self-sustaining Market is open to the public, and proceeds from sales directly fund the Fresh for You Market voucher program. This program provides patients who screen positive for food insecurity during clinic visits with free food vouchers to shop at the market. The Fresh for You Market on Wheels is a mobile version of the market that parks at a different location throughout Indianapolis each weekday. A nutrition navigator on board helps patients pick foods for specific diets and conditions, and a chef prepares hot meals and hosts cooking demonstrations.
The Fresh for You Market and Market on Wheels would not be possible without community partners. The downtown market partners with a local food bank, and the market on wheels partners with local produce vendors, public transportation, the Indiana Department of Health, and other government agencies.
Since opening in June 2017, the Fresh for You Market has been a key food resource for patients, residents, and health system staff. In the first full year of operation, the Market served 6,200 people. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the market opened to health system employees working long hours who were unable to make it to the grocery store. The Fresh for You Market on Wheels, launched in July 2023, is making its way to for access to food in a social needs screening.
By Amanda Jepson | Categories: | Comments Off on Beyond Barriers
After discovering significant disparities in age expectancy from zip codes only 16 miles apart in Marion County, Ind., Eskenazi Health acted to find solutions to enhance the health of the community it serves. Thus, the $60 million campaign titled, Beyond Barriers, takes a multidisciplinary approach to three main areas: health care, mental health care, and food as medicine. The goal of the campaign is to create life expectancy equity for everyone in the city of Indianapolis through an integrated and sustainable model of community infrastructure improvement.
The program serves Eskenazi Health’s patient population and surrounding community. At the heart of Beyond Barriers are Health Equity Zones identified to improve access to health care, mental health care, and nutritional foods. Each zone is home to an Eskenazi Health Center where community health care workers work one-on-one with patients at appointments and home visits. During this time, they screen patients for social determinants of health and help with self-management goals to promote positive health behaviors. The campaign also sustains mental health professional recruitment, upgrades mental health facilities, and expands the John & Kathy Ackerman Mental Health Professional Development Center. Another important aspect of Beyond Barriers is the Fresh for You Market, which provides fresh and affordable foods to patients and families who lack access to affordable food options.
Eskenazi Health engages with education, transportation, public health, housing, food pantries, and other industries to expand existing programs and create and support new programming and services. By working with these entities, Eskenazi Health can focus on long-term social determinants of health and improving quality of life for all Central Indiana residents.
Launched in 2017, the Fresh for You Market, located at Eskenazi Health’s downtown campus, has helped patients and families access affordable and healthy groceries. In its first full year of operation, the market fed 6,200 people from under-resourced and underserved communities and improved the quality of life of those served. In summer 2023, the Fresh for You Market launched a mobile food pantry, Fresh for You Market on Wheels, which is parked in various locations around Indianapolis each weekday based on patient needs indicated in social needs screenings.
By Hannah Lambalot | Categories: | Comments Off on Food Rx: A Cross-Sector Approach to Improving Health and Health Equity
High Harris County, Texas, has America’s highest number of uninsured residents, and one in five patients at Harris Health System screen positive for food insecurity. The health system partnered with Houston Food Bank (HFB), the University of Texas School of Public Health, and grocery store H-E-B for a Food Rx program based at two family practice clinics.
“Our food ‘farmacies’ are unique in that we go beyond a food insecurity model. Our patients are able to select the healthy foods they want as they walk and learn with a dietitian,” said Chief Integration Officer Karen Tseng. “We also provide them with the skills and confidence to translate those raw ingredients into healthy, cost-effective, culturally appropriate meals through our culinary medicine programming.”
Patients enroll with a community health worker, work with a dietitian to select healthy food; connect with an HFB navigator to enroll in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, and are linked to community food resources.
Patients with uncontrolled diabetes are invited to join a nine-month program, in which they participate in biweekly “walk and learn” sessions with a diabetes educator while redeeming 30 pounds of fresh food from the food farmacy. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Harris Health System adapted the walk-and-learn education model with curbside delivery, biweekly tele-education, and virtual culinary education initiatives.
Food Rx served more than 650 patients in its first year. Participants improved their nutrition knowledge scores, increased daily fruit and vegetable consumption, and reported increased confidence in basic cooking techniques. Program graduates decreased HbA1c levels by an average of 0.72 percentage points.
By Hannah Lambalot | Categories: | Comments Off on Congregational Health and Educational Network
Nashville General Hospital (NGH) established the Congregational Health and Educational Network (CHEN) to create resources for the underserved in our community addressing health equity by focusing on further educational attainment. CHEN represents a community-focused collaborative that bridges the gap between education and health, via local congregations. Additionally, CHEN encourages ongoing opportunities to provide unique education and/or health programming to the underserved.
Through CHEN benefits for member faith-based organizations, parishioners access no-cost health screening, CHEN Wellness Academy classes on chronic disease, health literacy and more, faith-based leaders access CU sessions to improve their interaction with congregant health challenges, all members have access to educational toolkits to assist parents for children k-13 and more. Staffing support is 2.2 FTE and resources are currently provided by the hospital until grants are initiated.
The no-cost screening will be managed by a NGH Nurse Navigator who also serves as a consistent conduit for all congregants and faith-based leaders wishing to access NGH healthcare. The members and HBCUs are stepping up to provide access to their own congregational programming by extending to CHEN members. Additional identification of assets to reach out to CHEN members is still being developed.
CHEN is truthfully too new to offer outcomes at the present time. However, all program offerings will sustain pre and post assessment and results will be available upon request.
for information – see www.nashgenfoundation.org/CHEN
By Hannah Lambalot | Categories: | Comments Off on The Sky Farm
Wellness and prevention have long been key components of the Eskenazi Health model of care. Through a large primary care network, numerous community-based health fairs, the Eskenazi Health Farmers’ Market and other initiatives, Eskenazi Health has been committed to community health and wellness. Dr. Lisa Harris, CEO of Eskenazi Health, believes the best opportunity to improve the lives of patients and, by extension, the health and vitality of our community lies in helping individuals stay well. Several years ago, employees at then Wishard Health Services (now Eskenazi Health), developed a garden area in a courtyard where employees could plant and grow flowers as well as fruits and vegetables. When plans moved forward to build a new hospital campus, leaders looked at ways to enhance its commitment to wellness for employees, patients, and visitors.
The construction of The Sky Farm occurred as part of the overall construction of the Sidney & Lois Eskenazi Hospital and Eskenazi Health campus, which opened in December 2013. Marion County voters approved construction of new facilities to replace the Wishard Memorial Hospital campus in the Nov. 3, 2009 election, with 85 percent support for the measure. Sidney and Lois Eskenazi of Indianapolis contributed $40 million to the project’s capital campaign in June 2011, and Health & Hospital Corporation of Marion County recognized their gift in naming the new hospital the Sidney & Lois Eskenazi Hospital, as well as the campus and system Eskenazi Health.
A number of individuals and organizations were involved, including RATIO Architects, Inc., of Indianapolis. The original design of The Sky Farm at Eskenazi Health was developed by Erik Reid Fulford of NINebark, Inc. Fulford was an Indianapolis-landscape architect who passed away in 2012. David Rubin of Land Collective, a world-renowned landscape architect, who also designed the outside main entrance landscape at the Sidney & Lois Eskenazi Hospital, helped to carry out Fulford’s work.
The rooftop farm is utilized to grow fresh produce for patient education, which is distributed to the community at Eskenazi Health’s community health centers and given to employees during “Fresh Veggie Fridays” (FVF). In addition to the produce, the farm is home to approximately 500 bees to increase crop production through pollination. The Sky Farm, open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, has 24 crop beds, some of which are wheelchair height for easy accessibility, and produced and harvested more than 3,700 pounds of produce in 2018. Additionally, The Sky Farm, in partnership with the Eskenazi Health Food & Nutrition Services, provides classes, “Fresh Veggie Fridays” to sample healthy recipes, learn healthy cooking techniques, receive at-home gardening tips, and obtain fresh vegetables grown from The Sky Farm. “Fresh Veggie Fridays” hosts more than 1,000 visitors each season. It also welcomes field trips and tours throughout the year.
Produce grown on The Sky Farm is used to engage Eskenazi Health patients and employees. The Sky Farm Produce Classes are held at Eskenazi Health Center sites, with another 100 people participating in CSA-style 4-week classes. Each class includes a full nutrition lesson, cooking demo, recipe book, and take-home produce. Fresh Veggie Friday is a drop in nutrition, recipe sampling, and produce distribution free to employees, patients, and visitors during the summer growing season. Around 125 people attend each session, there are 10 sessions each summer.
The Sky Farm opened as part of the opening of the Sidney & Lois Eskenazi Hospital and Eskenazi Health campus in December 2013 and we are finishing up our sixth growing season. Overall, through our various programs, we distribute about 3,000 pounds of produce with cooking and nutrition education directly into our community at no cost to the participants.
By Hannah Lambalot | Categories: | Comments Off on StreetCred
StreetCred was founded in 2015 after recognizing the need for doctors to address poverty as a disease, not simply just a social problem. For many families, income tax preparation is a challenge as they try to navigate a complicated system. As a result, they often do not receive the tax benefits they are entitled. StreetCred is an innovative program established at Boston Medical Center (BMC) which offers free tax services to families receiving pediatric care at BMC, who are eligible to receive the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit. This service functions as a solution to the financial burden a significant portion of BMC patients face from living with annual incomes below the federal poverty level.
BMC disproportionally serves individuals who are low-income or under-or un-insured. Fifty-four percent of BMC families with children live below the federal poverty level. StreetCred aims to transform families’ wealth and health in a setting they frequent and trust, their pediatrician’s office. During visits, doctors prescribe StreetCred, offering free tax preparation to ensure families receive the Earned Income Tax Credit, the largest, but underutilized, U.S. anti-poverty program. The hospital provides the space, and partners with community tax partners, under the umbrella of the IRS, that provide expertise in tax preparation.
BMC engages with a number of partners, including Yale New Haven Hospital, South End Community Health Center, CAHS, Foundation Communities, Boston Tax Help Coalition, Boston Medical Center, Boston Healthcare for the Homeless Program, Boston Children’s Hospital, People’s Community Clinic, New York Health and Hospital (Gotham Health), Grow Brooklyn, American Academy of Pediatrics, Blue Hills Banks, DCU, Chris Gordon, Santander, BlackRock, The Paul Phyllis Fireman Charitable Foundation, The Claneil Foundation. These partners work with BMC to provide volunteers, financial programming, grants, technical support, marketing, and client engagement.
StreetCred scaled rapidly and effectively with $5.3 million returned to 2,700 families. In addition, families and staff report 96% acceptability rates.
By Hannah Lambalot | Categories: | Comments Off on Lyft Partnership and Vouchers
Denver Health formed a partnership with Lyft to provide no-cost rides to recently discharged patients or those in need of transportation to and from outpatient clinic appointments. The program began in the ED and expanded after three months to include the hospital and outpatient clinics. Hospital and clinic staff request and track Lyft rides for patients, and the Denver Health Foundation funds the service at an average cost of $8.50 per ride, with a 25-mile limit. Now in its third year, the program has provided more than 5,000 rides. Denver Health also offers no-cost bus tickets, cab vouchers, and a car service using a vehicle donated by Oprah Winfrey to those patients with limited resources. The “Oprah” car is staffed by local retired community residents on a volunteer basis.
