Nutrition is a vital part of public health, yet access to good quality food for low-income individuals can be problematic.
That is why The Duke Outpatient Clinic (DOC) decided to start the Fresh Produce Program (FPP), where the Clinic provides fruit, vegetables, and other staples to food-insecure patients.
Food Distribution
Since launching the program in August 2017, the DOC has held 30 distribution days, where they supplied 623 bags of produce to 214 patients. The program even offers cooking demonstrations to teach the patients ways to prepare food and to introduce them to new recipe ideas.
Outcomes
Of the patients who received the produce bags, many have reported:
- improvements in their food security
- eating more vegetables
- cooking more
- feeling healthier since joining the program
"Our greatest achievement is the sense of community we have fostered at our distribution days,"
says Christelle Tan, a medical student at Duke and one of the FPP founders.
Best student poster at NC ACP
This work was recently presented at the North Carolina ACP and won best student poster and best poster overall! "We couldn’t have done any of this without all of the support from everyone at the DOC," says Tan. According to the poster, this program showed consistent distribution of produce has the potential to improve health behaviors among patients experiencing food insecurity, while also reducing the burden of food insecurity. If you have any questions about the Fresh Produce Program please reach out to christelle.tan@duke.edu.