As the saying goes, food is medicine, and during 2023, Novant Health New Hanover Regional Medical Center has successfully expanded its ongoing efforts to ensure all patients who come to the hospital for medical care also have access to nutritious food.
Between January and July this year, Novant Health distributed 3,000 boxes of free, shelf-stable food to patients at the hospital and several Wilmington-region clinics. Open a box and you’ll find an assortment of nutritious items like oatmeal, powdered milk, tuna, black beans, and canned no-sodium vegetables.
This Food Pharmacy program is a partnership with Food Lion grocery stores, and adding it to the hospital’s robust community hunger initiatives expanded New Hanover Regional Medical Center’s efforts as a recognized national leader in combatting food insecurity and malnutrition.
Food to help heal
The term “food insecurity” refers to not consistently having enough food to meet a person’s basic nutritional needs. In New Hanover County, more than 36,000 individuals are food insecure, the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina reports. Across the state, one in eight North Carolinians experiences food insecurity.
Lack of access to healthy food creates numerous social barriers, and when it comes to illness and injury, food is essential for the body to heal. That’s why Novant Health clinic care team members use a health screening survey to help detect when patients might need nourishment.
Each month an average of 3,000 patients screen positive for food insecurity at Novant Health clinics across North Carolina. An important part of creating food security is connecting people to local resources. Novant Health clinic care team members refer patients to local food banks to ensure they can access a sustainable food source.
Meeting community members where they are Novant Health is also tackling malnutrition – the lack of sufficient nutrients that can lead to a variety of physical and mental impairments. It can place great burden on families. Nurses screen patients for malnutrition risk within 24 hours of their arrival at the hospital.
“Malnutrition is an incredible risk factor for poor health outcomes,” said Skip Allen, the clinical outreach dietitian at New Hanover Regional Medical Center. The registered dietitians in the hospital assess and refer malnourished patients to Allen’s service. He visits patients who live within 30 miles of the hospital to help ensure they have the nourishment, resources and nutrition information they need.
“When a patient is discharged with malnutrition, they’re twice as likely to be readmitted to the hospital than a patient who’s not malnourished,” Allen said. “If readmitted, their length of stay also goes up significantly,” which adds to the cost of health care. “For most patients, we need to get them food, stat,” he said.
Allen helps to address malnutrition and prevent a patient’s further weight loss, but “if a patient cannot get the food they need, we have to address that first, or nothing else makes sense,” he said.
Allen strives to visit patients at home within a week after they leave the hospital. He’ll see them as many times as they need, but traditionally his next visit is three weeks later and then again within another month or two.
Novant Health’s goal is to get all community members on a path to good health – one they feel equipped to stay on.
“Malnutrition is resolvable,” Allen said. “Nutrition is one of the few things a person can control. We’re giving patients that power.”
