The basics:
RWJBarnabas Health has opened the system’s sixth Food Farmacy. The initiative provides patients with nutritious foods and nutrition counseling to support long-term health and well-being.
Officials gathered Sept. 8 to officially celebrate the new offering, located within the Alexander Pavilion at Monmouth Medical Center in Long Branch.
RWJBarnabas Health’s Food Farmacies offer New Jersey-grown produce, refrigerated items and shelf-stable foods in addition to culturally relevant foods and recipes. The sites also provide education focused on chronic disease prevention and management.
The West Orange-headquartered health network now operates Food Farmacies across Essex, Hudson, Mercer, Middlesex and Monmouth counties. Additional sites are:
Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Hamilton Food Farmacy within the RWJ Fitness & Wellness Center
Green Apple Rx Food Farmacy at Jersey City Medical Center
Women’s Wellness Food Farmacy at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center
Retail Pharmacy and Food Farmacy at Saint James Health in Newark
At the RWJ Fitness & Wellness Center in New Brunswick
The network also opened Harvest: A Farm to Community Center in Newark this spring.
Manigan
“RWJBarnabas Health’s Food Farmacy at Monmouth Medical Center is built upon the simple yet profound belief that access to healthy food goes hand-in-hand with access to world-class healthcare,” RWJBarnabas Health President and CEO Mark Manigan said in a statement.
“The fight against hunger and food insecurity is one of the most important fights in which we can engage to build a healthier Monmouth County and New Jersey,” he added.
‘A dignified path’
RWJBarnabas Health partnered with Fulfill, a nonprofit food bank and hunger-relief organization, on the MMC Food Farmacy.
Fullfill President and CEO Triada Stampas said, “No one should have to choose between purchasing nutritious food and meeting other essential needs, including medical care.”
Stampas added that the partnership with RWJBarnabas Health creates “a direct and dignified path to healthy food for neighbors who need it.”
The Food Farmacies are part of RWJBarnabas Health’s Our Healthy Communities initiative, which is supported by state appropriations. Earlier this year, RWJBarnabas Health invested $854,000 through the initiative to upgrade Monmouth Family Health Center in Long Branch.
On Sept. 8, RWJBarnabas Health leadership, elected officials and partners cut the ribbon on the new Food Farmacy in Monmouth Medical Center. From left: Mark Dinglasan, executive director, New Jersey Office of the Food Security Advocate; Barbara Mintz, senior vice president, Social Impact and Community Investment, RWJBarnabas Health; Balpreet Grewal-Virk, senior vice president, Community Health, RWJBarnabas Health; Triada Stampas, president and CEO, Fulfill; George Helmy, executive vice president and chief corporate affairs officer, RWJBarnabas Health; U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, D-6th District; Mark Manigan, president and CEO, RWJBarnabas Health; John Pallone, mayor, City of Long Branch; Eric Carney, president and CEO, Monmouth Medical Center; Assemblywoman Dr. Margie Donlon, Assemblywoman Luanne Peterpaul and Sen. Vin Gopal, all D-11th District; Tom Arnone, commissioner director, Monmouth County Board of Commissioners; and Dr. Kenneth Granet, chief medical officer, Monmouth Medical Center. – PROVIDED BY RWJBARNABAS
United effort
The Garden State was recently named the second-happiest state in the nation by personal finance platform WalletHub. The ranking evaluated each state based on Emotional & Physical Well-Being; Work Environment; and Community & Environment. In its findings, WalletHub noted New Jersey “has the seventh-lowest food insecurity rate [in the nation], which shows that the state is making progress when it comes to addressing poverty.”
Additional New Jersey healthcare networks offer initiatives to combat food insecurity, including AtlantiCare, Cooper University Health Care, Hackensack Meridian Health, Inspira Health, Virtua Health, among several others.