With South Dakota is facing its highest rate of hunger in a decade, some Avera Health clinics are addressing the issue through wellness pantries.
If patients are in need, they leave their doctor's visit with a bag of groceries.
The program began last year at the Avera St. Benedict Health Center in Parkston. The leadership team wanted to do more for the center's rural population. Lindsay Weber is President and CEO of Avera St. Benedict. She said the brainstorming turned to social determinants of health, which the CDC describes as non-medical factors that can influence health outcomes.
"If we’re not assessing our patients for social determinants of health, such as food insecurity, how are we meeting their needs in terms of their medical goals?" Weber said. "So, if you’re a diabetic individual that cannot afford food, we cannot help them meet the needs of their diabetic measures because they don’t have access to healthy foods.”
Weber found Parkston already has a food pantry and other resources, but people either didn’t know about them or needed additional help. Avera St. Benedict became a pilot location for a wellness pantry to address both emergency food needs and to connect people with additional resources. Nurses and other staff determine a patient’s food security status with a two-question screening process: Have you worried about affording food in the past 12 months? Have you been afraid you’ll run out of food before you can get more?
If patients answer yes to either of those questions, they are flagged as food insecure and receive a bag with three to five days' worth of emergency food supplies. Lindsay Weber says asking these questions in a clinical setting can bridge the gap between needing help and getting it.
“Sometimes, individuals might not be comfortable in going to a food pantry or accessing that resource outside of the medical clinic, but a lot of times they’re comfortable telling their medical provider that they don’t have access to healthy food. Especially when you’re having conversations about chronic disease management and how can we help you manage your disease better, we can have those conversations in a trusting environment,” Weber explained.
"Food insecurity does not discriminate. It affects many, many people that we're not even aware of."Lindsay Weber, President and CEO of Avera St. Benedict Health Center
The success of the pilot program in Parkston led to additional wellness pantries in women's and children's clinics in Sioux Falls. Those are led by Lacey McCormack, who's also the director of rural research with Avera Research Institute. She explained the rates of food insecurity can vary widely between urban and rural environments, but there’s a common issue across the board.
"I have been in the public health and nutrition research space for a long time, particularly focused on rural populations. And one of our biggest issues, of course, is access," said McCormack. "That can mean, do you have access to a grocery store or a place that sells healthy foods in your community? Or if you don’t, do you have access to a car or some mode of transportation that can get you to one of those facilities? ”
Of course, accessing healthy meals can make a difference in health overall.
“We oftentimes think of people needing to eat healthy foods, and that’s true for everybody, but it also becomes especially true if you’re managing a chronic condition or if you’re pregnant or if you’re a growing child. And so, it really is everybody that needs access, and it’s hard to be healthy or maintain your health if you don’t have healthy foods," McCormack said.
McCormack said her team anticipated a 12-15% food insecurity rate when they launched the Sioux Falls wellness pantries in January.
"We are seeing that reflected in our screenings," she said, "And in some of the clinics that we're at, we see upwards of 30% of our population screening as food insecure."
In Parkston, that rate is 10%. Lindsay Weber admits that was surprising.
"You know, I knew that there was a need out there, but I certainly didn't know the disparity," she said. "The thing that's important to remember, that I would communicate, is that food insecurity does not discriminate. It affects many, many people that we're not even aware of."
In their first year, the Parkston and Sioux Falls wellness pantries have distributed 1,200 bags of emergency food supplies to patients. Avera St. Mary's in Pierre just launched its own wellness pantry.
Every bit counts: earlier this year, Feeding South Dakota reported a statewide food insecurity rate of 12.4%, the state's highest rate in over a decade. That translates to more than 115,000 people in the state who worry about their next meal.
