Hospitals, Nutrition, and You
Whether you're a mom-to-be, a person experiencing poverty, or just a shopper without a lot of time on your hands, everyone could use a leg up on staying healthy. So hospitals are going into communities to teach us all about nutrition — keeping patients healthier as they do so.
Picture this:
A brand-new mom has just delivered a beautiful, healthy baby. Mom and child are doing well and are ready to head home. And so Mom's doctor sends her home … with a prescription for five home visits from experts in infant nutrition?
Don't be surprised. These days, hospitals' nutrition programs extend well beyond their four walls and into our communities. It's all part of their commitment to serving patients wherever, and whenever, it's needed — in the ER, at the local grocery store, or in their homes!
In fact, one study suggests that hospital nutrition programs can reduce both readmission rates and the time of patient stays — keeping patients healthier and potentially even reducing hospital costs.
Hospital nutrition programs may reduce readmissions by as much as 27%.
Welcome, baby!
This program for new moms is run by Adventist Health White Memorial (AHWM) in East Los Angeles. The hospital sees a diverse array of patients, many of whom struggle with poverty and access to health care.
In response, AHWM launched its "Welcome Baby" to give new parents in East LA a leg up after baby is born. Parents who opt in to the voluntary program receive three prenatal visits, a hospital visit, and five postpartum visits — all from trained professionals — where they can learn about breastfeeding, nutrition, and early child development.
What's more, AHWM works with partners in East LA — including the WIC program, which provides food and nutrition education to low-income families, and First5LA, a local program offering services for kids aged 0 to 5 — to make sure families don't experience gaps in the help they're getting.
‘Nutrition is connected to everything’
But “Welcome Baby” is hardly alone. In fact, it’s just one program out of many around the country.
Want another example? Look to New Hanover Regional Medical Center in the coastal city of Wilmington, North Carolina — where about 20% of the hospital's patients are malnourished. These patients simply aren't getting enough nutrition at home — because they have limited access to food, or no time to prepare meals, or a support system to keep them on a healthy track.
According to Angela Lago, the hospital's manager of clinical nutrition: "We cannot expect our patients to bounce back from a trauma, stroke, fall, surgery or any other medical condition if their nutrition is inadequate. Nutrition is connected to everything."
To close the gap, New Hanover Regional's registered dietitians (RDs) are working one-on-one with patients. An RD visits malnourished patients in their homes — after they are discharged from the hospital — to make sure they have the resources (and the food!) they need to stay healthy.
Patients are also given a "food box" when they're discharged — providing 2,000 calories a day of foods that require little to no preparation so that patients can continue to recover from serious conditions.
"We cannot expect our patients to bounce back from a trauma, stroke, fall, surgery or any other medical condition if their nutrition is inadequate. Nutrition is connected to everything."
Still other hospitals are taking a more proactive approach to nutrition — making sure families have the food and information they need when they need it:
- Huntsville Hospital in Alabama is offering free "Good Nutrition for Busy Families" courses — in the hopes of giving families the tips and tricks they need to stay healthy while constantly on the go.
- Boston Medical Center has an on-site food pantry that distributes more than 15,000 pounds of healthy food to referred patients every week.
- Eskenazi Health of Indiana partners with Meals on Wheels to provide recently discharged patients with 30 days of medically tailored meals — all for free.
- And in Minot, Michigan, Trinity Health has offered "diabetes tours" of grocery stories for people affected with diabetes — explaining that while eating healthy is critical to controlling diabetes, finding the right options at the grocery store can be overwhelming.
All of these programs have one thing in common: It isn't enough to keep patients healthy when they're in the hospital! And when hospitals can help out, we all win.
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