LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KATV) — A new partnership between Baptist Health and the Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance is aiming to improve access to healthy food across the state through the newly launched Arkansas Fruits and Vegetables Prescription Program.
The initiative, which has been in development for several months, is designed to help Arkansans with limited resources and chronic health conditions gain consistent access to nutritious foods. Central to the program is a temperature-controlled Food Rx locker that allows participants to pick up fresh produce at their convenience.
The locker system is available 24 hours a day and is temperature controlled to ensure produce stays fresh. It also offers a no-contact pickup option — an important accommodation for those who may not be able to access traditional food pantries that operate during limited hours.
Each month, participants in the program receive $50 worth of fresh fruits and vegetables, selected through the program. In addition to receiving produce, participants can take part in a “veggie test” to evaluate whether they are consuming the recommended amount of vegetables their bodies need.
Program leaders say this initiative addresses a critical piece of overall health care that many Arkansans are missing — reliable access to healthy food.
Samantha Stadter with Baptist Health Community Outreach explains the goal of the program said “This program is aimed at people who have really limited resources and who have a chronic condition that can be managed with food, things like diabetes and hypertension. We know that there’s a strong correlation between being asset limited, between having one of these medical conditions and having access to healthy food. A lot of times when people don’t have a lot of money to make their food budget stretch, a lot of times, fruits and vegetables are one of the things that we miss out on, and that can be because they’re more expensive, because they’re harder to prepare, because they go bad faster. A lot of times, it can just be an issue of access.”
The lockers are monitored and secured with technology that allows only enrolled participants to access their assigned order.
Here’s how it works: participants submit their order, the Baptist Health Community Outreach Center fills it using items from its pantry, and the food is placed in a designated locker. Once the order is delivered, the participant receives a text message with a PIN number to unlock the locker.
“I’m going to load in one of our orders here into our temp controlled lockers, and it’s flashing at me which one are open. So I’m going to take my food, put it over here in the locker, close it up, and I will mark it as delivered, sign out, and then here in a couple seconds, I’ll get a text message with a pin number that is going to allow me to open the locker as a participant.”
Baptist Health officials say the program is designed to break down barriers that contribute to diet-related health problems, especially for individuals who cannot easily access fresh, nutritious foods.
The program does have limited space. Organizers say individuals with diet-related health issues who fall within a certain income range may qualify for assistance.
Through this partnership, Baptist Health and the Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance hope to tackle food insecurity while also improving long-term health outcomes for Arkansans across the state.
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