AHN Grove City, Community Food Warehouse of Mercer County partner to implement food box program to address hunger issues

GROVE CITY, PA  – Allegheny Health Network (AHN) Grove City Hospital will partner with Community Food Warehouse of Mercer County to launch a food box program in an effort to address food insecurity needs among patients cared for by the network. The program at AHN Grove City, with funding from Highmark, is a function of AHN’s Healthy Food Centers, a program of the AHN Center for Inclusion Health, and will be available through select area primary care physician practices, including:

• Grove City Primary Care (located in the hospital’s medical office building)
• Slippery Rock Primary Care
• Family Healthcare Partners: Grove City (Hillcrest and Pine Medical), Harrisville and Mercer 

Patients identified by their physician as food insecure through a screening tool embedded in their electronic health record are offered shelf-stable boxes of healthy food items to help address their needs. Included in the boxes they receive may be low sodium canned vegetables and fruits, peanut butter, dried beans, brown rice, pasta and canned chicken. All the food items will be sourced from Community Food Warehouse of Mercer County.

The food boxes are meant to address an immediate hardship in patients, who are then connected with nearby food pantries or an AHN Healthy Food Center to provide them with ongoing support. In addition to the nutritious food sources, information on additional resources will be provided along with healthy recipes, and nutrition education materials.

“Our AHN Healthy Food Centers provide patients in need with food, but it’s much more than that,” explained registered dietitian Colleen Ereditario, program manager for the Healthy Food Centers. “We work very hard to teach them, in very basic terms, how to eat a healthy nutritious diet comprised of whole foods, and to do so within a budget."

That education component is critically important to patients with chronic conditions, like diabetes, that must be managed through diet. “It’s incredibly rewarding to work with a patient who experiences a dramatic improvement in their health thanks to a newfound awareness around what they are eating,” said Ereditario.

Along with supplying patients with recipes for wholesome, nutritious meals, Healthy Food Center staff help them make out a grocery shopping list and are available to answer questions anytime Monday through Friday during business hours.

“More than anything, we want them to succeed in their healthy eating journey throughout their lives,” said Ereditario. “And, that means we often go above and beyond to equip them with the tools they need to make that happen.”

AHN’s first Healthy Food Center opened in 2018 at AHN West Penn Hospital and has since expanded to four other AHN hospitals: Allegheny General, Forbes, Jefferson, and Saint Vincent in Erie. To date, more than 160,000 meals have been supplied by the Healthy Food Centers to more than 16,000 patients and their families across the Pittsburgh and Erie regions. The centers also partner with various local organizations to provide transportation assistance to and from the centers, and local farmers markets where clients can obtain fresh produce.

“No one should go hungry,” said David Tupponce, MD, AHN Grove City President. “Although it seems contrary to logic that we serve a rural, highly agricultural area, where fresh fruit and vegetables are plentiful, we are acutely aware of ‘food deserts’ across the county.”

According to Rebecca Page, Director of Community Food Warehouse of Mercer County, the food desert designation is based on population density of residents in a given area and their distance from the nearest grocery store. As a result of large supermarkets moving into more populous areas and driving small local grocers out of business, people in food deserts live ten miles or farther from a food store.

“Compounding the issue of food deserts here is the influx of ‘dollar stores’ targeting these areas and selling mostly processed foods, and offering no fresh options for customers, which does not solve the problem,” said Page, who also noted that low incomes and poor health status are nearly always associated with those who live within a food desert.

“The food box program is an excellent example of how a community hospital can provide life changing support for patients beyond clinical care,” said Dr. Tupponce. “We can’t fix every problem for our patients, but it’s gratifying to be able to help with food insecurities, since they’re directly related to our primary focus—health and wellness.”