Everyone’s Harvest Certified Farmers’ Markets Part of Innovative Partnership With Healthcare Providers

2024-04-29 04:58:49 Health and Fitness

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Everyone?s Harvest Certified Farmers? Markets, in partnership with local healthcare providers, through the Fresh Rx program, has distributed $94,000 in healthy, local fruits and vegetables ?prescriptions? to 150 families in need in our community in 2019.

Marina, CA, June 09, 2020 ? Remember when your parents told you to ?eat your vegetables?? Well, now under an innovative partnership between healthcare providers and farmers? markets, doctors can ?prescribe? fresh fruits and vegetables to young overweight patients and direct them to the farmers? markets where they can receive $25 worth of fresh produce weekly.

Everyone?s Harvest Certified Farmers? Markets, in partnership with local healthcare providers, through the Fresh Rx program, has distributed $94,000 in healthy, local fruits and vegetables ?prescriptions? to 150 families in need in our community in 2019.

Results tracked by doctors show healthy decreases in the majority of participants? overall body mass index, weight, and waist circumference, and other healthy lifestyle changes, including an increase in meals prepared as a family at home. To date, more than 350 families have benefited from Everyone?s Harvest?s Fresh Rx program, and Everyone?s Harvest has redeemed $300,000 in fresh produce ?prescriptions.?

"One challenge to healthy nutrition, especially among low-income individuals, is access to and consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables,? said Karen Gomez, who was recently named market program manager for Everyone?s Harvest. ?For this reason, I strongly believe in the Fresh Rx Program. Not just because it addresses the problem, but because it motivates people to live a healthier lifestyle for themselves, and for their families.?

The Fresh Rx program isn?t just about better access to fruits and vegetables. The program brings food into healthcare and equips healthcare providers with tools to address healthy eating and food insecurity. Participating clinics and hospitals teach classes about healthy eating, cooking, and the connection between food and health. Healthcare providers and healthcare staffs are becoming healthy food ambassadors, connecting patients with healthy resources in their communities.

Doctors involved in the program are reporting that it has helped strengthened the doctor-patient relationship, opened up more dialogue around healthy nutrition and contributed to their patients building new healthy habits. And they are reporting that they are issuing higher-priced prescriptions to fewer patients, deepening the impact and simplifying the implementation by participating doctors and clinics.

At this time, Everyone?s Harvest has three markets open, Marina, Pacific Grove and Salinas Valley Memorial Healthcare System (SVMHS) markets. The other Everyone?s Harvest certified farmers? markets in Salinas, one at Women, Infants And Children (WIC) offices at 632 East Alisal St., and the other at Natividad Medical Center at 1441 Constitution Blvd., will open on June 16 and June 17, respectively. Both markets will be smaller, modified markets with social distancing plans in place. All markets have strict social distancing and thorough sanitation plans in place.

The Marina Certified Farmers? Market is held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. every Sunday at 215 Reservation Road, in Marina. The Pacific Grove Certified Farmers? Market is held from 3 to 7 p.m. every Monday at the corner of Central and Grand avenues, in Pacific Grove. The Salinas Valley Memorial Healthcare System Certified Farmers? Market is open on Fridays from 12:30 to 5:30 p.m., at 450 East Romie Lane, in Salinas. All are operating as essential businesses in the community and to ensure that fresh food is available to local residents.

?A healthy and safe farmers' market is our number-one priority,? said Everyone?s Harvest Executive Director Reid Norris. ?Our farmers and vendors, like many small businesses in the community, rely on your continued support to bring you necessary services like fresh food and produce. We are doing this to support local farmers and give people a nutritious option for produce. So if you are able to, please keep supporting us.?

Everyone's Harvest will adhere to guidelines described in their Social Distancing Plan, created in collaboration with Monterey County Health Department, California Department of Public Health, and California Alliance of Farmers' Markets.

?Everyone's Harvest is working closely with the Monterey County Health Department, local governments, and our healthcare partners to best serve the community,? said Norris. ?We are closely monitoring the COVID-19 situation, and we have implemented a plan of action for our markets.?

Contact:
Marci Bracco Cain
Chatterbox PR
Salinas, CA 93901
(831) 747-7455
http://www.everyonesharvest.org