Seasons Greetings from Healthy Food in Health Care 2013 has been an active year for our work with more hospitals and health care facilities joining the sustainable food movement, transforming the supply chain, and increasing clinical engagement in creating healthy food and farm policies. Here are some highlights of Healthy Food in Health Care (HFHC) work around the country: There are now 479 facilities and seven food service management companies that have signed the HFHC Pledge. 285 facilities have enrolled in the Healthier Hospitals Initiative's (HHI) Healthier Food Challenge and are working toward a shared set of goals for meat reduction, sustainable/local purchasing, and healthy beverages - and they are tracking their progress. On the policy front, our network has become active in advocating for meat and poultry production that does not rely on the use of non-therapeutic antibiotics in feed and water to compensate for dense, stressful, and unsanitary living conditions. Close to 800 clinicians signed a letter to President Obama this past Spring, demanding FDA action on restricting antibiotic use in animal agriculture. HFHC staff visited Congressional offices across the country and in Washington D.C. to ask Senators and Representatives to protect antibiotics for human medicine. There is much work still left to be done, so stay tuned in 2014 for ongoing policy activity, which you will find on our new HFHC policy page.  | Cafeteria sign at Borgess Medical Center in Kalamazoo showing the Michigan farms from where the facility sourced menu items |
We had several regional successes: - In California, twenty five percent of the hospitals in the state are engaged in healthy food in health care work. This represents over 125 facilities, aided by the development and staffing of Hospital Leadership Teams in San Diego, Los Angeles, and the San Francisco Bay area.
- In the Maryland/D.C. region, over fifty health care facilities participated in the annual Buy Local Challenge, spending more than $53,000 in one week on locally grown produce and local and sustainable meat and poultry.
- In Michigan, more than a third of hospitals have now signed the HFHC Pledge and half of these also are engaged in HHI to increase the purchase local, sustainable foods and beverages. Further still, a city-wide food prescription network was launched in Detroit.
- In New England, we launched six HFHC Work Groups engaging over fifty hospitals in collaborative efforts to increase the purchase of local and sustainable foods and improve transparency in the supply chain.
- In Oregon, HFHC hospitals helped to launch the Oregon Institutional Food Buyers Alliance, which brings together purchasers from health care, schools, universities, corrections, and entertainment venues to work together to increase their sustainable and local food purchasing.
- In Washington, one third of the hospitals in the state have now signed the HFHC Pledge, and are working together to increase direct-from-farm purchasing
 | | Harborview Medical Center dietitian Ben Atkinson holding the farmer market produce "prescription" voucher they developed with Clean Greens Market volunteers in Washington |
through local food hubs, purchase meat and poultry raised without non-therapeutic antibiotics, and improve the retail food environments in their cafeterias, gift shops, and vending machines.
In 2014, the HFHC Program will continue to grow the movement. We look forward to continuing to work with you on this journey. |
Policy Updates and New Research |
News from the Field: Carilion Clinic's healthy food and community work Carilion Clinic is a system of eight non-profit hospitals that has been pioneering healthy food work in the state of Virginia. The system signed the Healthy Food in Health Care Pledge on Food Day back in October and has been promoting the connections between community partnerships, sustainability, and healthy food. In 2012, the system conducted a Community Health Needs Assessment to understand the barriers to good health care that its communities were facing. As part of this nine month project, over 4,000 individuals filled out a survey and Carilion Clinic hosted several focus groups. "We met with underserved communities who were living in food deserts," shares Aaron M. Harris-Boush, who works in Strategic Development for Carilion Clinic. "We heard many comments about the lack of access to healthy food." As such, the system began improving its offerings of healthy food and started doing more outreach to students, patients, and community members on sustainable food. Carilion Clinic also sponsors programs that work with SNAP benefits, and helps connect patients and consumers to farmers at farmers' markets. Currently, Carilion Clinic and community partners are designing a "fruit and vegetable prescription project" so that patients who receive a prescription to healthy food will be able to obtain discounts on local produce. One of Carilion's biggest accomplishments to date has been increasing the availability of locally-grown, organic food to its employees and community members within its doors. Every week, the Roanoke campus hosts "a Farmers' Table" with fresh produce that is open to the public.  | | Produce for sale and CSA boxes to pick up at Carilion Roanoke's weekly farmers' table |
Explains Harris-Boush, "we also work with a local food hub to offer a CSA with a variety of options (like all fruit, just eggs, only vegetables) to our staff and community members." Most of the produce is organic and from over fifty local farms, and employees are able to deduct, bi-weekly, the cost of a season's membership from their payroll. Harris-Boush also reports that they "sold nearly $65,000 worth of farm shares from our local farmers in the 2012-2013 market season." About half of that came from payroll deductions. Carilion Clinic anticipates the program to grow in 2014 to include items such as antibiotic-free meat. Read more about farm shares at Carilion Clinic and the growing momentum behind its healthy food work online. Download recipes that Carilion Clinic's Dining and Nutrition Services uses to feature its local and sustainable produce online. |
Clinician Champion: Dr. Joel Foreman at Mount Sinai 
Joel Forman, MD, is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Community and Preventive Medicine at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine (MSSM) in Boston, MA. He began his training at the University of Vermont College of Medicine in Burlington, VT, where he was elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha Society and received the New England Pediatric Society Prize. In 2002, he took over as Pediatric Residency Program Director and Vice-Chair for Education at Mount Sinai. There, he also helped create a Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit (PEHSU). Dr. Forman is currently a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Committee on Environmental Health and a member of the CDC Lead in Pregnancy Workgroup. Healthy Food in Health Care caught up with Dr. Forman to talk about his environmental health advocacy efforts.
Q. Could you describe your advocacy efforts surrounding environmental health and food?
A. My most significant contributions have been in the realm of policy. I had the privilege of sitting on the AAP Committee on Environmental Health for six years. This committee has great influence on policy and I was able to contribute to a number of influential policy statements and clinical reports, particularly our recent effort around organic food. I have also been actively working on environmental health and food system issues with the New York City Board of Health, where I was chosen for my pediatric and environmental health interest and expertise. I learned a lot through this endeavor and have been able to contribute to important initiatives, such as NYC's daring and innovative the sugar sweetened beverage policies. I have been involved with many of Health Care Without Harm's Healthy Food in Health Care efforts, most recently as faculty for the Food Matters Clinical Education and Advocacy Program.
Q. When and how did your interest in the intersection between human and environmental health begin?
A. My interest was largely spurred by meeting and working with one of the field's biggest champions, Dr. Phil Landrigan from MSSM. I worked on developing a Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit (PEHSU) and participated in and continue to work with MSSM's Fellowship program, a rich source of stimulating cases and educational opportunities.
Q. In what ways are you able to integrate environmental health education and advocacy into your traditional schedule?
A. The academic environment is particularly conducive to engaging in advocacy projects. I have added environmental health topics to our pediatric resident training program and became involved with teaching about organic food and environmental asthma (via the National Environmental Education Foundation Asthma Faculty Champions program). Essentially, the advocacy becomes integrated into the many aspects of my clinical career.
Q. Any recommendations on how other clinicians can become more involved in advocating for a healthy food system?
A. I would say that the best route is by speaking up in institutional committees. National organizations are always looking for willing participants, and welcome clinicians who are willing to give their time. The AAP is a great example or an organization that  has real influence over policy at the state and federal levels. Similarly, other clinical specialties have associations, which can carry enormous weight in the legislative process. |
About Us The Healthy Food in Health Care program is a national initiative of Health Care Without Harm, which works with hospitals across the country to help improve the health and sustainability of their food services. For more information about the Healthy Food in Health Care program, and to access a variety of tools and resources, visit www.healthyfoodinhealthcare.org. |
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| | Pledge Update |  We welcome the following facilities who signed the pledge since September:
~Auburn Medical Center, WA ~Carilion Health System, VA, including: ~Bedford Memorial Hospital ~Carilion Clinic Children's Hospital ~Carilion Clinic Saint Albans Hospital ~Carilion Franklin Memorial Hospital ~Carilion Giles Community Hospital ~Carilion New River Valley Medical Center ~Carilion Roanoke Community Hospital ~Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital ~Carilion Stonewall Jackson Hospital ~Carilion Tazewell Community Hospital ~Inova Fairfax, VA ~Inova Fair Oaks, VA ~Inova Loudoun, VA ~Inova Mount Vernon, VA ~MedStar Montgomery Medical Center, MD ~Sutter Health Memorial Medical Center Modesto, CA ~University of California San Diego Thornton Hospital, CA ~University of California San Diego Hillcrest Outpatient Clinic, CA ~WindsorMeade of Williamsburg, VA ~Yale-New Haven Hospital, CT |
| Upcoming Events | 1. HEN Webinar Series, January-March 2013 HCWH is collaborating with the Hunger and Environmental Nutrition group (HEN) of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics on a 2014 webinar series: ~Jan. 14: Transparency in GMO Labeling and Seed Saving: What Dietitians Need to Know ~Jan 30: The Food Climate Connection ~Feb. 11: The Role of Dietitians in the Local Food Movement ~March 11: Pesticides in our Food: The How, What, and Why Dietitians Need to Know These webinars offer Continuing Professional Education (CPE) credits. Register and learn more online.
3. Health Leaders Program, MI, January - February 2013
3. Webinar - Healthy Food Work in California: Health Care's Progress to Date, January 30
Learn more about the growing healthy food work in the health care sector in the state of California by joining this free webinar. Register online. 4. National Farm to Cafeteria Conference, Austin, TX, April 15-18We are partnering with the National Farm to Cafeteria Conference to share the experiences, best practices, and success stories of health care institutions that are connecting with local and sustainable farmers to support healthy communities. To learn more, visit the conference website here. 5. CleanMed, Cleveland, OH, June 2-5 Save the date for the CleanMed conference, the premier national environmental conference for leaders in health care sustainability. Read more details online. |
New Resources |
2. California Healthy Food in Health Care
A new survey by HCWH shows that twenty five percent of California hospitals are engaged in healthy food work, as detailed in our new report available online.
3. Balanced Menus: Meeting Health Care's Demand for Sustainable Meat
Learn about sustainable meat procurement efforts in the state of California and opportunities and obstacles identified by hospitals, supply chain representatives, and other stakeholders. Read our final report and media online.
4.Greenhealth
Magazine Column: Tainted Feed: Health care's role in banning arsenic in animal agriculture
Our program is a regular contributor to Practice Greenhealth's
5.Greenhealth |
| Share Your Story | If you would like to share your story in our next issue, contact Sapna Thottathil, Healthy Food in Health Care: sapna@sfbaypsr.org. |
| Contact Us | For more information about the Healthy Food in Health Care program, contact one of our regional organizers. |
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