The Kentucky Department of Agriculture and the Kentucky Hospital Association have partnered to promote the Food is Medicine program in hospitals and communities. The aim is to help people become healthy through eating instead of having to take medicine.
Holly Harris is the president and CEO of Appalachian Regional Health Care and state co-chair of Food is Medicine. She said the first step to improving the general health of the region is to start with improving the health of the healthcare professionals.
“And we have really worked to improve the healthy choices on all of our cafeteria lines. Make sure that we are labeling the food in our cafeteria and providing healthy choices like salad bars during the day when our cafeteria is open and during the evenings, having prepared salads available,” said Harris.
Harris said the partnership with local farmers and the ag community makes the program even better, as the hospital can ensure local produce and local protein sources in the food being provided.
To encourage healthy eating habits at home, Jonathan Shell, Kentucky Commissioner of Agriculture, said they encourage hospitals to bring farmers markets to the parking lots at least once month during the season.
“And, we’re finding that now patients are scheduling their procedures, their intake, their checkups on the days that the farmers markets are there, so that they can not only get their healthcare taken care of, but also participate in the famers market to get their food brought back to the house,” said Shell.
Shells said community supported agriculture, or CSA, boxes also provide a way for healthcare professionals to bring home fresh produce, and some hospitals subsidize the programs for their employees.
41 out of the 129 Kentucky’s hospitals have begun to implement a Food is Medicine program.