Food baskets for patients?

[Allydalilo]

Most of my rotations are at a county hospital in one of the poorest areas in the U.S. An alarming number of patients have confided that their food stamps run out at the end of the month. My co-residents and I are interested in setting up some way to donate food to clinic patients in need. (I get that there are food banks, etc., but why not take advantage of the fact that they’re already there, especially for the disabled/elderly/families with lots of little kids.) We were thinking we could start by asking at our churches, and having those with school age kids get some school-based fundraisers going. We even have a fridge that we could put perishables in, so they might even get some decent nutrition. I can’t imagine our clinic is the first to notice this problem and want to address it. So, before we pitch this to the attendings, is there any ethical/professional reason that this would be a no-go?

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[geripalgal]

Safety of perishable food and liability
Is thisa new recruitment tool
Sustainabilty - you will have busy rotations and will leave in a few years, what happens to this when you are not there

 

[AMEHigh]

At one of our hospitals in our system they have a garden that is run by an experienced farmer, but they give out food to patients and hold cooking demonstrations and educational sessions.

You should definitely do a needs assessment to find out what barriers your patients may have, then go from there to make sure you set up something that is sustainable. Definitely the biggest challenge will likely be financial (transport, food storage, etc).

 

[wholeheartedly]

Most of my rotations are at a county hospital in one of the poorest areas in the U.S. An alarming number of patients have confided that their food stamps run out at the end of the month. My co-residents and I are interested in setting up some way to donate food to clinic patients in need. (I get that there are food banks, etc., but why not take advantage of the fact that they’re already there, especially for the disabled/elderly/families with lots of little kids.) We were thinking we could start by asking at our churches, and having those with school age kids get some school-based fundraisers going. We even have a fridge that we could put perishables in, so they might even get some decent nutrition. I can’t imagine our clinic is the first to notice this problem and want to address it. So, before we pitch this to the attendings, is there any ethical/professional reason that this would be a no-go?

I saw a farmers market for patients in the courtyard at Abbott-Northwestern in Minneapolis. I though that was a great idea.

I agree with doing a formal needs assessment, you can make be collaborate with some MPH/RD type folks. And definitely do some research on what other places are doing. Food deserts in are a huge issue.

I found this website that has a bit of info https://hungerandhealth.feedingamer...od-bank-partnerships-recipe-community-health/

 

[deleted480308]

But someone has to sort it, store it, make the rules distribution, and account for all that staff time and hassle

This is going tobe much bigger than you might be giving it credit for

 

[Thrombus]

Generational Dependency is their real disease. Don’t potentiate this very unhealthy problem!!