Good Food Rx: First Food Prescription Program in Arkansas

4 Minute Read

The Future of Arkansas is Food as Medicine

Well Fed and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) East Regional Campus in Helena-West Helena are partnering to combat nutritional insecurity through a food prescription program and research study called Good Food Rx.

The program works with UAMS patients who have diet-related conditions such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, and obesity.
 
It takes a holistic approach to diet intervention practices by empowering people to improve their health by consuming the right kinds of healthy foods.
 
Patients with will be given “prescriptions” for healthier, nutritious options focused on improving their health. They will then receive groceries for free each month at an on-site food market developed by Well Fed.
 
Good Food Rx held its first food delivery day on March 14.

“We are thrilled to launch this much-needed health care program here in Arkansas with UAMS,” said Josh Harris, executive director of Well Fed.

“Together, we aim to forge a brighter future for health care and show that diet intervention is a powerful and necessary strategy to improve health outcomes.”

LaShanda Albert, a research coordinator at the UAMS East, said the program is an important development for people in the Arkansas Delta, a region that contains counties with the lowest health outcomes in the state.
 
“We want to enrich people’s lives and improve their health,” she said. “Good health is essential and valuable for every individual.”
 
Like all our programs, the Good Food Rx will have monthly nutrition education classes. But as an official medical study, doctors will do monthly assessments of each patient’s biometrics.
Engaging patients through these monthly meetings will help build confidence and accountability as they make life-changing choices to improve their health, Harris said.
“Some of the components of what we’re doing with this project can be found across the country,” he said. “But by putting these pieces together in a certain way, we’re creating something that’s unique.”
 
This program will be beneficial to the residents of West Helena and to Arkansas as a whole. This study has the potential to open the way for other food prescription programs throughout the state.
 
Article Written March, 2023

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