Vermont Business Magazine Hannaford Supermarkets has donated $20,000 to support an innovative nutrition program for primary care patients at The University of Vermont Medical Center . The “Health Care Shares” initiative, created in partnership with the Vermont Youth Conservation Corps (VYCC), provides free vegetables, nutrition education and cooking tips to lower income patients at primary care clinics in Colchester, South Burlington and Milton. The produce is grown, harvested and delivered by the (VYCC).
Participants in the program are selected based on income and most have children in the home. Each participant receives a weekly share of fresh vegetables as well as cooking utensils and several whole chickens over 12 weeks. University of Vermont Medical Center staff from Nutrition Services and the Community Health Team provide simple recipes and demonstrations to encourage healthy cooking. Volunteers are on hand each week to explain the contents of every share as some vegetables might be unfamiliar to patients.
Previous participants have shown health improvements over the course of the program, and report that they are incorporating more vegetables into their diet as a result of the Health Care Share initiative.
“This is the third year of this program and we are so grateful for Hannaford’s generous support of the 2015 season” said Alicia Jacobs, MD vice chair of clinical operations, Family Medicine at the UVM Medical Center and associate professor at the UVM College of Medicine. “This supportwill allow us to continue improving the health of our patients because access to a healthy diet and the skills needed to prepare whole foods is a key part of preventing and improving chronic disease.”
“The amount of public participation in the Health Care Share is staggering,” said Paul Feenan, director of Agriculture Leadership at the VYCC. “We are constantly expanding and evolving to meet the total need. Hannaford’s generous contribution enables a constellation of individuals, organizations, and corporations, to altogether, plant, weed, harvest, wash, pack and deliver healthy food to our neighbors,” he said. “Here at the VYCC we focus our efforts on the development of Vermont Youth. The farm grows all this food with young workers and students. Investments like this one from Hannaford Supermarket represent a crucial investment in Vermont’s future because they provide opportunities for area youth to learn about work,” he continued.
"Hannaford is proud to support the UVM Medical Center and its work of improving health and wellness in Vermont and Northern New York," said Ben Theriault, Hannaford Supermarket’s director of operations for Vermont. "As a company, we are committed to partnering with organizations such as the Medical Center and VYCC to support good nutrition and offer healthy choices for people who live in all the communities we serve."
This year the program runs from July 9th through September 24th and will gear recipes and other program elements toward children.
Central Vermont Medical Center, a member of The University of Vermont Health Network, has also conducted this program in coordination with the VYCC for the past 3 years.
About Hannaford Supermarkets
Hannaford Supermarkets, based in Scarborough, Maine, operates 186 stores in the Northeast. Stores are located in Maine, New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont. Hannaford employs more than 27,000 associates. Additional information can be found at www.hannaford.com.
About the University of Vermont Medical Center
The University of Vermont Medical Center (formerly Fletcher Allen Health Care), is a 447 bed tertiary care regional referral center providing advanced care to approximately 1 million residents in Vermont and northern New York. Together with our partners at the University of Vermont College of Medicine and the College of Nursing and Health Sciences, we are Vermont’s academic medical center.The University of Vermont Medical Center also serves as a community hospital for approximately 150,000 residents in Chittenden and Grand Isle counties.
The University of Vermont Medical Center is a member of The University of Vermont Health Network, a four hospital system established to deliver high quality academic medicine to every community we serve. Our partners are: