Veggie Rx
The Partners
This partnership with:
- Union Community Care
- Penn State Health
- Penn State Health St. Joseph
- BrothersFoodmax
The Program
A functional approach to addressing chronic and diet-related illness, The Veggie Rx Program (fruit and vegetable prescription program) allows healthcare providers to prescribe an educational program that focuses on nutrition, healthy eating, and physical activity. These patients participate in classes designed and led by a dietician. They receive vouchers during their sessions that can be redeemed at participating Farmer’s Markets and grocery stores to purchase fruits and vegetables.
REACH Team in Action
The REACH project provides an evaluation of their Veggie Rx program at UCC in Lancaster, Lebanon and Penn State St. Josephs in Berks County. Our partners identified, recruited, and administered the Veggie Rx program to eligible and interested patients at their facility. The REACH team conducted the evaluation of the program with a pre/post program survey and pre/post class surveys during the Veggie Rx programs. We established relationships with vendors and completed a report to the partner to improve success in the program.
The Impact
A1C levels, and weight loss went down.
When participants receive the vouchers for the Veggie Rx class, they can redeem them at local grocery stores and farmer’s markets. Brothers Supermax has been a partner for the program in Lebanon and Lancaster for the past two years, serving as a store close to the class sites, providing a large selection of cultural fresh vegetables and fruits, and accommodating hours for participants. Local farmer’s markets like Hornings Produce and Barrs Produce offer fresh and local options to redeem the vouchers. Sites are chosen based on the proximity to the class to assist with transportation challenges, sites that already accept Farmer’s Market Nutrition vouchers for layering of services, and sites with a large selection to meet the food interests of the participants.
