Food Security & Healthcare Convening
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We're pioneering new ways for people to access CalFresh assistance - through their healthcare providers. On December 14th, more than 50 healthcare and food security stakeholders from across San Diego County gathered at the Price Charities Center to discuss best practices for screening and addressing food insecurity in patients.
Public Health Institute’s Holly Calhoun keynoted the Integrating Food Security into Healthcare Settings forum. She opened the session by illustrating the national landscape of innovative work already being done across the US.
Featured panelists from UCSD School of Medicine, Family Health Centers San Diego, Sharp Healthcare, Feeding San Diego, and 211 San Diego continued the conversation by describing their local efforts to identify and connect food insecure patients to CalFresh and food assistance. They highlighted how a provider's unique relationship with patients can ensure wellness through traditional healthcare as well as access to healthy food.
Forum participants were enthusiastic about the pilot programs' results. Many discussed how to strengthen evaluation measures to continue to capture data and learn from one another. Multiple healthcare organizations expressed interest in engaging in this work. See photos from the event here and read our research report, Launching Rx for CalFresh in San Diego County: Integrating Food Security in Healthcare Settings.
We look forward to continuing the conversation and collaborative work in 2017!
