Hospital Program Addresses Food-Insecurity
The Food Pharmacy at University of Vermont Children’s Hospital has evolved from modest beginnings as a cabinet food pantry aimed at helping a handful of food-insecure pediatric cystic fibrosis patients. That’s exactly what Keith Robinson, MD, and his children’s hospital colleagues were hoping for when it launched in 2016.
Community need has driven the program’s growth. About 350 families were served in 2023. Families typically leave medical appointments with food items worth about $35, and some receive a $25 gift card to help purchase additional food. In Vermont, 57,150 people are facing hunger - including 12,040 children, according to Feeding America. Food insecurity occurs for myriad reasons, and the team at UVM Children’s Hospital wanted to provide help without any regard for why assistance was needed and ensure families would accept assistance – without any stigma.
In 2016, Dr. Robinson began working with nurses, nutritionists, social workers and fellow doctors, to screen pediatric patients for food insecurity. The collected data showed nearly a quarter of pediatric cystic fibrosis patients were food insecure, leaving Dr. Robinson and others compelled to act. A local, on-site food pantry was borne at UVM Children’s Hospital for its youngest patients and their families.
“It basically started with us doing local food drives and bringing stuff in from home,” Dr. Robinson says. “The idea is that when families are coming into the hospital, if they get screened for food insecurity and are positive, we give them food to go home with. We know that food is medicine, and access to proper nutrition is critical to helping our patients heal and stay healthy.”
Those early collections were stored in a cabinet and handed out to patients who needed it. Vermont Foodbank CEO John Sayles soon learned of the hyper-local effort underway and offered a partnership to create an official pantry. Sayles remembers being impressed by their efforts, but also thought: “Wow – we can do better than that.”
With help from Sayles, the team did. The Vermont Foodbank’s early credit of $1,000 helped the hospital launch an official food pantry within the Vermont Foodbank’s network for patients. “Because there wasn’t any funding at that time, the Foodbank set them up as a network partner,” Sayles says.
With more food available, the program soon expanded beyond cystic fibrosis patients to families in pediatric inpatient units and specialty clinics, and then to pediatric outpatient clinics – becoming what is known today as the Food Pharmacy. A new physical space for the pantry was created with a grant through the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals Fund. Donors to the fund include community members, patients and families, local event organizers and participants as well as corporate partners.
People who may otherwise not access resources for food are often more willing to do so in a clinical setting because it can feel less stigmatizing, says Christine Prior, a case manager who helps operate the food pantry. She says the Food Pharmacy is helping to reinforce that food is medicine. The pantry allows medical providers the opportunity to help immediately and begin conversations with social workers about long-term solutions.
The Food Pharmacy is intentional when choosing items to stock. In addition to food items, additional tools are offered, such as cooking kits that included pots and pans, a knife and cutting board, measuring cups and spoons and spices. The idea, Prior says, is to promote entire family meals.
“We try to have a variety of items from different food groups and include as much frozen/fresh items as we are able so whole meals can be created out of the food provided,” she says.
Now, food is available to pediatric patients and their families who need it, for any reason.
“Families are really busy and when they have medical needs to attend to on top of the other school, work and household responsibilities they have, getting out to local food pantries when they are open is often simply not feasible,” Prior says. “I think the opportunity we have to offer this resource to patients and families at the time of a clinic visit, when they are already out in the community is really helpful to a lot of people and fills a gap for families that otherwise may remain unfilled.”
Sayles says the UVM Children’s Hospital team has made great strides helping to address food insecurity in our region.
“It’s a great start, and there is so much more to do to truly integrate food security into our health systems. It was mostly the passion and dedication of the staff who made the small food pantry possible,” Sayles says.
