Study confirms Mid-Ohio Farmacy's success in improving patients' health
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – A partnership between the Mid-Ohio Food Collective and local healthcare providers prescribes fresh food to qualifying patients.
It's called Mid-Ohio Farmacy, and its mission is to end hunger while improving health. And a new research study proves that it works.
"We want to make sure that if you are in need of food, that you have a place to acquire food," said Dr. Amy Headings, Director of Research & Nutrition at the Mid-Ohio Food Collective. "And so, we're doing that through many of our different strategies and one of those strategies is the Mid-Ohio Farmacy."
"Really, it was, you take the word 'farm,' you know, and say, 'How do we, how can people, you know, get better health out of eating better?'" said Mid-Ohio Food Collective President CEO Matt Habash. "The idea is to build that kind of connectivity, that, understand healthy, nutritious food matters to your health."
But it's not just an idea, it is a fact. Headings is one of the authors behind the study, "Evidence from a food and health partnership model of care."
The study looked at thousands of patients, with multiple health issues, like high blood pressure, diabetes, or heart disease, who utilize the farmacy at least once per month.
"And so, what we did is we partnered with a local health care provider to try and understand, you know if people are enrolled in the program and they go, what happens?" Headings said. "What we saw was that people had substantial improvements in their health outcomes, in their chronic conditions."
The data in the study backs that up, but it also quotes the personal experiences of Mid-Ohio Farmacy patients.
"When we started having access to fresh food, it changed the way my family ate," one client shared. "I started coming to the pantry two years ago and I've lost close to 50 lbs. It has changed my life."
"When you think about diet and its effect, there can be some short-term impacts on diet, for sure," said Headings. "But really, what you're going to get more meaningfully is if you have a lifestyle change and make fresh, healthy food consumption a part of what you regularly do, and programs like the Mid-Ohio Farmacy Program and all of our healthcare partners and all of our agencies are helping make that change."