Neighbor News
Advocate Health Care expands ‘Food Farmacy’
Program expands access to fresh produce to patients to improve overall health throughout South Side community.
Advocate Health Care’s Food Farmacy now supplies regular distributions of fresh produce for patients at Advocate Christ Medical Center and Advocate Children’s Hospital-Oak Lawn.
This new distribution is an expansion of the Food Farmacy, developed five years ago. The program has already helped more than 11,000 patients gain access to regular shipments of fresh, healthy food in the communities at Advocate South Suburban and Trinity hospitals. The Food Farmacy is part of Advocate’s ongoing pledge to health equity, lifting up those who are underserved.
“Healthy food is the best medicine,” said Dr. Tony Hampton, Advocate family medicine physician who helped launch the Food Farmacy. “It’s almost shocking how important nutrition is for overall metabolic health.”
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Nutrition can prevent and treat several chronic conditions by the effect it has on several factors including blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol. “There’s no pill to fix all of those things,” Dr. Hampton said.
But not everyone has access to fresh, healthy foods, especially produce, he added. “I can’t expect my patients to eat right if they don’t have access.”
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The Food Farmacy is part of Advocate Health Care’s overall commitment to improving community health. And it wouldn’t be possible without philanthropy support. Philanthropic partnerships have been integral to the sustainability and expansion of this program. To date, our generous community partners—namely Michuda Construction, Power Construction, Mi-Jack Products, Old National Bank, and Canadian National, as well as several anonymous Foundations—have provided nearly a quarter of a million dollars in funding.
Patients must be referred by a provider to take part in the twice-monthly distribution at Christ, which is a drive-through process where patients also receive nutrition education and recipes. While the goal is to target those with chronic health conditions like heart disease or diabetes, any patient in need who would benefit from more healthy food is eligible to collect, Hampton said.
