The Food is Medicine movement is a national approach to health that focuses on how consistent, nutritious diets can fuel overall health. Locally, Hawaiʻi FIM leaders aim to connect farmers, nutrition and healthcare to proactively support health before problems arise.
Hawaiʻi Island’s Food Basket has launched several pilot programs to support the cause, including its most recent partnership with the Hawaiʻi Island Community Health Center.
Through a grant from the Hawaiʻi Good Food Alliance, the initiative provided 25 patients with weekly food boxes that are completely locally sourced to measure how regular access to healthy, local foods would impact them.
“My whole training is in food being key to health, getting your nutrients for growth, to prevent disease, manage disease, have the best possible health outcomes,” said Stacy Haumea, a registered dietitian nutritionist at HICHC. “So, to be at this point to see the healthcare system address it and incorporate it is priceless.”
Participants, who had to have a diabetes or hypertension diagnosis to be eligible, tracked their weight, glucose levels and blood pressure at the beginning and end of the 20-week program. Beyond their diagnoses, the participants had to be insured through Medicaid, be considered food insecure, and be able to pick up the weekly boxes.
Carla Blevins, the HICHC patient navigation program manager, said although the results from the first cohort are still being finalized and have not yet been released, she is very proud of the difference from the beginning to the end.
“The results were really fantastic — it's like one of those things I want to tell everybody about,” Blevins said. “And so many of our patients’ families benefited as well, because they got to share in this. It was really just amazing.”
Both Haumea and Blevins said the timing of the initiative is especially important, knowing that the 1115 Waiver was extended through 2029.
Under the extension of the Hawaiʻi QUEST Integration, the state is looking at ways to cover the costs of health-related social needs services, including nutrition support. This could cover weekly or daily food boxes similar to those under the Food Basket and HICHC partnership, medically tailored meals, pantry stocking supplies and cooking resources.
Haumea said leaders across both agriculture and healthcare systems have known about the waivers since last year, giving them time to prepare to ensure their patients can benefit from the extension.
“This pilot opportunity gave us that chance to learn about infrastructure, our needs to support the program, but also to design it in the way that we thought was important for our patients,” she said. “It's given us that opportunity to really learn from our patients, like what do they need and what are the gaps? Do they need the cooking classes or the skills or cooking implements?”
But for Kerri Okamura, the Food is Medicine director at the Food Basket, the impact goes beyond the patients that the program served, adding that the relationships that were built with local farmers were equally important.
“We were able to source from about 50 farmers on our island, and we were very proud of the fact that the food was 100% Hawaiʻi Island-sourced, from the fruits, vegetables and protein,” Okamura said. “The impact on their business and livelihood is definitely something to acknowledge and be proud of as well.”
The second phase of the initiative is now underway with 20 patients in the Kaʻū District, which is designated as a food desert.
