UVM Medical Center Rounds Up for UVM Children’s Hospital Food Pharmacy! 

UVM Children’s Hospital is kicking off their new, tri-annual register roundup campaign in partnership with UVM Medical Center Nutrition Services. Between now and the end of August, all UVM Medical Center dining locations will be asking customers to donate to the UVM Children’s Hospital Food Pharmacy! This option will be available at Main Street Cafe, Harvest Cafe, and the Garden Atrium at UVMMC. 

The UVM Children’s Hospital Food Pharmacy was identified as an area of need because of the immense amount of relief it provides to patient families in our community experiencing food insecurity. It is available to patients and families of our hospital who screen positive for food insecurity, who are then connected with a social worker or case manager who provides nourishing food from the Food Pharmacy to supplement their diets. On a weekly basis it services about a dozen families. 

The Food Pharmacy works in partnership with dietitians, social workers, the UVMMC Food Security Action Team, and community organizations like the Vermont Food Bank, Hunger Free Vermont, and Feeding Chittenden. Knowing that the Food Pharmacy is only a short-term solution to food insecurity, its staff and UVM Medical Center primary care offices also work with families to connect them to community resources such as WIC and SNAP, who supply assistance that will help further the community’s long-term efforts in this work. 

UVMMC’s Health Equity & Community Access Supervisor, Kristin Fontaine, has been a champion of the Food Pharmacy since its humble beginnings. She has seen first-hand not just the difference it makes in our patient’s lives, but also the relationships it helps build within our hospital walls, stating, “Several years ago, we interviewed families who had screened positive for food insecurity to find out what would be most helpful. In addition to referrals and warm hand offs to community resources, they wanted tangible assistance at the time of screening. At the time we had a fledgling food pharmacy in the Children’s Specialty Center that has grown into the UVM Children’s Hospital Food Pharmacy that we have today. It is now available to pediatric patients in other areas of the Children’s Hospital. We have also diversified the food offerings so that there are more culturally responsive foods for our immigrant and New American communities.

Being able to provide assistance like this also helps with provider wellbeing. It helps to grow the relationship and create a sense of trust when a provider is able to offer something right then and there. That is why funding for this is so important, as it comes primarily from philanthropy such as the register roundup and grants that we seek.” 

The impact of your donation helps to change kids’ health to change the future! To learn more, watch our hospital’s video on Food Insecurity 101. To donate, visit give.uvmhealth.org/FoodRelief or round up at your next visit to one of our cafes at UVM Medical Center!