Food bank collaborates with DeSoto Memorial and Johns Hopkins All Children’s hospitals to open on-site food pantries for patients
“In the face of significant federal funding cuts and statewide policy decisions that have reduced nutritional support for vulnerable families,” All Faiths Food Bank is expanding its health care partnerships “to ensure food remains a powerful tool for prevention and healing,” the food bank’s leaders have announced.
“As part of its Food is Medicine program, All Faiths recently launched two new Wellness Markets inside local hospitals, which will provide fresh food for patients in need,” a news release explains.
“On July 28, All Faiths and DeSoto Memorial Hospital officially opened DeSoto County’s first hospital-based Wellness Market — a 24/7 pantry providing patients with access to fresh, medically-tailored food as part of their discharge plan,” the release notes. “Nurses and administrative staff will personally select and distribute healthy foods to patients who have been identified as food insecure,” the release explains. The patients then will be “connected with All Faiths for an opportunity to receive additional food and benefits assistance,” the release adds.
A week later, on Aug. 4, the release continues, All Faiths and Johns Hopkins All Children’s Outpatient Care in North Port “celebrated the opening of a Wellness Market there — the first hospital-based Wellness Market in Sarasota County. “Fully integrated into the clinic’s workflow,” the release notes, “the pantry will offer fresh food during operating hours and connect families to additional support.”
These Wellness Markets join two others in the area, which also opened this year, the release says. They are located at the Healthy Start Coalition of Sarasota County and the Sarasota Medical Pregnancy Center.
“The ultimate goal of the Wellness Markets is to reduce readmissions and emergency room visits and improve health outcomes by addressing food insecurity as a critical health issue, especially in rural communities where resources are scarce and the need is greater,” the release explains.
These innovative partnerships build on nearly a decade of All Faiths Food Bank’s commitment to linking nutrition and health care, the release adds, including the launch of its Pediatric Food Insecurity Screening program in 2019, which was “made possible through visionary support from Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation. That initiative, now All Faiths’ Food is Medicine program, has grown to include wraparound services, such as benefits assistance, case management and thousands of food insecurity screenings each year across Sarasota and DeSoto counties,” the release points out.
“For many years, All Faiths Food Bank has been steadily expanding its focus from food distribution to the recognition of hunger as a critical health issue,” said Nelle S. Miller, president and CEO of All Faiths Food Bank, in the release. “We are grateful to Barancik Foundation for its early and generous support, and to DeSoto Memorial and Johns Hopkins All Children’s hospitals for joining us in this innovative effort to improve health outcomes for our neighbors,” Miller added.
To learn more about All Faiths Food Bank, visit allfaithsfoodbank.org or call 941-379-6333.