Recipient Organization
FAMILIES ANCHORED IN TOTAL HARMONY INC
201 E 5TH AVE
GARY,IN 46402
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
Families Anchored in Totally Harmony, Inc., in partnership with Methodist Hospitals at its Northlake and Midlake campuses, along with local farmers--Carl's Small Farms and Baby Greens Family Farms--are providing the FAITH Food is Medicine Program, a prescription food program. The program is focused on diabetes, digestive, heart, and vascular specialties led by Methodist physicians prescribing healthy produce on a weekly basis, accessed through refrigerated lockers located conveniently at Northlake & Midlake campuses, and a third community location at Bilco's Barbershop at 2448 Broadway, Gary, IN 46407.The FAITH Food is Medicine Program is focused on African-American adult men and women that are patients at Methodist with at least one diagnosed concern related to diabetes, digestive, heart, and vascular diseases. FAITH Food is Medicine is prescribed to Methodist patients by multi-specialty physicians at Midlake campus. Program participants can pick up produce from refrigerated produce lockers upon completion of their specialty appointment at Midlake Campus, post-discharge from Northlake hospital, or even before or after their hair appointment at Bilco's Barbershop.FAITH Food is Medicine Program participants receive a packaged produce box worth $20 in produce. Participants are provided an access code to refrigerated lockers weekly (mechanism includes a swipe card, app or texted code) and can pick up a produce box each week over the two-year program. Participants respond to surveys on recommended recipes and produce selection to receive each additional week's locker code to access produce. Participants receive recipes and nutrition education to support consumption of the provided produce and encourage overall healthful eating. The program aims to increase fruit and vegetable consumption, reduce food insecurity, and reduce medical utilization and medical costs.
Animal Health Component
100%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
0%
Applied
100%
Developmental
0%
Goals / Objectives
Goal 1: Year 1 - FAITH Food is Medicine Program shall serve a total of 75 patients.Goal 2: Year 2 - FAITH Food is Medicine Program shall serve a total of 100 patients.Objective A: 50% of enrolled patients shall remain in the program for six months or longer.Outcome: Heart and Vascular participants show improvement in blood pressure compared to start of program and trended quarterly.Outcome: Diabetes participants show improvement in HbA1C compared to start of program and trended quarterly.Outcome: Digestive participants show improvement in Gastric manometry and gut transit time compared to start of program and trended quarterly.Objective B: 80% of active program participants shall show an increase in overall health education.Activity: Survey provided weekly with disease state specific health education; improvement measured quarterly based on survey results.Objective C: 80% of active program participants shall show an increase in food nutrition education.Activity: Survey provided weekly with actual food nutrition education; improvement measured quarterly based on survey results.Long-Term Impacts :Healthy selection of produce prioritized over other food choices.Practice of behavior change first - what I can control before pharmacological or surgical interventions.
Project Methods
Physicians refer patients to programParticipating physicians will identify potential patient participants during patient encounters or by reviewing patient medical charts. Upon confirming eligibility and interest, the physician will refer the patient by completing a short online form. FAITH CDC will provide the patient instructions to complete surveys and access produce.Patient completes weekly survey andreceives weekly box of fresh produceProgram participants must complete short surveys on health education competency, recipe preference, and produce selection to "unlock" their code for next week's produce access at the refrigerated locker. Surveys are provided on the Qualtrics platform and texted to participants. Direct text response is available or form completion on computing device. The access code delivery is part of the refrigerated locker user interface. The access code provisioning will be completed by Project Director.Produce managementThe fulfillment of produce boxes will be completed by Produce Delivery staff members and the packaging of produce boxes will be completed by Produce Packaging staff. FAITH CDC will be responsible for back-end program management, including inventory management as well as e-commerce selection and tracking of produce. Given the partnerships with other local farms, a simple purchase order and invoice process will be utilized.Patient receives ongoing educationPatients will receive aligned recipes in their weekly box. They will also receive nutrition education provided by a Methodist Hospital Registered Dietitian Nutritionist. Examples of education topics include benefits of consuming fruits and vegetables and how to healthfully prepare produce.Impact of program is measured.The Center for Urban and Regional Excellent (CURE) at IU Northwest will participate as a research partner. This will include the standard IU IRB review process. Professor Ellen Szarleta, the Director of CURE, will lead this research.Professor Frank Nierwicki at Indiana University Bloomington has agreed to serve as the evaluator. The evaluation will assess program processes and effectiveness related to the GusNIP goals: increased fruit and vegetable intake, reduced food insecurity, and reduced healthcare utilization and costs.Data to measure impact will originate from surveys managed by FAITH CDC and utilization and cost analysis conducted by Methodist Hospital.