Food Is Medicine Forum
Food Lifeline was honored to welcome Erin Dugan and Janie Dulaney from the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee, and community leaders to the Hunger Solution Center on September 1 for a Washington Food Is Medicine Forum.
Erin and Jamie, both senior professional staff with U.S. Senator Patty Murray, came to Washington state to hear from businesses, nonprofits, and policy makers who are working across food systems to connect access to nutritious foods with improved health and wellbeing.
Max Brown, Desimone Consulting Group, facilitated the conversation to understand what is working, what needs improvement, and how programs can be sustained through reliable funding. Erin and Jamie will take these findings back to Senator Murray, as she continues to champion nutrition, health, and Food is Medicine policies at the federal level.
Across Washington, Foos is Medicine programs include:
- Product prescription boxes
- Medically tailored meals
- Medicaid nutrition supports
- Local food procurement
As this promising work proceeds, providers encounter barriers to progress:
- Complex reporting and data requirements
- HIPAA and compliance issues
- Reimbursement timelines
- Administrative capacity constraints particularly for small organizations
The following actions and investments would build momentum for Food is Medicine programs:
- Scaling Food is Medicine infrastructure including investments in workforce, data systems, operating capital, refrigeration, transportations, and coordination capacity
- Coordination between existing health care, nutrition, agriculture, and human service agencies and programs
- Specific achievable investments from $5 million and up to demonstrate successful outcomes
The conversation also focused on the need to continue to invest in the existing programs doing this work, from senior nutrition, WIC, maternal and child health, to community-based programs.
After the forum, attendees toured Lifelong, a Food Lifeline agency partner, to learn more about their medically tailored meals operation. There, CEO James Shakleford provided a tour of Lifelong’s facility and kitchen. Last year, Lifelong provided 155,120 meals to clients within their program.
Participants were encouraged by the expertise and innovation happening in Washington State and urged to keep the conversation going for continued advancement on Food is Medicine initiatives.
