LEXINGTON, Ky. — KentuckyOne Health has teamed up with God’s Pantry Food Bank to fund a pilot program that will provide immediate food assistance for patients in emergent need at Saint Joseph London and Saint Joseph Berea. As part of the partnership, KentuckyOne Health will have food baskets on hand at the two facilities, as well two health clinics in London and one health clinic in Berea.
“We are very excited about this and humbled that we will be able to assist our patients to meet a basic human need,” said Neva Francis, vice president, Healthy Communities, KentuckyOne Health.
KentuckyOne Health identified Berea and London through screenings for social determinants of health – basic human needs – as two locations where incremental hunger-relief services would provide more timely aid to residents who are seeking access to food. The screenings are part of the work KentuckyOne is doing through a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grant.
“Nutritious food helps improve health. Patients experiencing hunger or food insecurity may experience issues like prolonged recovery times that potentially increase medical costs,” said Michael Halligan, CEO, God’s Pantry in Lexington. “Working with Saint Joseph London and Saint Joseph Berea to identify those who are hungry will allow intervention and access to nutritious food.”
The emergency food baskets contain cans of vegetables and fruit, pasta sauce, boxes of pasta, milk, cereal, soup and crackers.
God’s Pantry Food Bank also recently initiated an emergency food box program in Lexington at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
For more information on this pilot program, call 859.255.6592.
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