AVON, Ohio — Cleveland Clinic is continuing its mission to help patients use food as medicine, and Second Harvest Food Bank in Lorain is helping make that mission possible.
The collaborative effort started in April and has helped over 100 patients access food when leaving the hospital and beyond.
One in seven people in Lorain County suffers from food insecurity, which has increased by 54% since the pandemic. Vice President and Chief Medical Officer at Cleveland Clinic Avon Hospital, Dr. Rebecca Stark, saw the struggle play out in real-time with her patients.
“I was taking care of a pregnant patient diagnosed with diabetes in pregnancy and expressed when I asked her why she wasn't checking her blood sugars and following recommendations she said, 'I met with a nutritionist and I feel like why would I bother,'” said Starck. “I can't afford the food she is recommending.”
At that moment, Starck decided it was time to bring healthy food products directly to patients. In partnership with Second Harvest Food Bank, Cleveland Clinic's Avon Campus opened an in-hospital food pantry, which has distributed 750 pounds of food every month and a half since April.
“We can't just give patients medications once they arrive at the hospital and fix all these problems, that's really at the end of their disease,” Starck added. “So, we want to provide these wrap-around services so when they leave the hospital they don't have to come back.”
Its partnerships with medical institutions like this, which Second Harvest believes will bring statistics down.
“58% have to choose between healthcare and medicine and paying for food,” said Samantha Flores, Director of Programs and Partner Services at Second Harvest Food Bank. “So, it's really about keeping the neighborhood the center of all that we do and meeting people where they are.”
The pantry's mission isn't only to feed but also to preserve dignity. The entire process is discreetly done after doctors identify an individual as food insecure.
“They are so very grateful,” said Terri Meadows, supervisor for volunteer and guest services at Cleveland Clinic Avon Hospital. “I think again, a big part of that is confidentiality. No questions asked. So they are not embarrassed. They just say, ‘Here, I was told to give you this envelope, ' and we will give them a bag right away and just wish them well.”
Meadows understands because she, too, was once in those same shoes after her husband fell ill.
“Just having two small children at the time was a little bit of a struggle,” said Meadows. “I asked for that help and I realized there was more help out there to offer to me that made a difference.”
The Avon Hospital Food Pantry is now serving outpatients who arrive at Richard E. Jacobs's outpatient facility, not just the emergency department. Since April, the Avon Pantry has served 112 people.
