2/27/25 –
With RFK Jr. heading the main federal healthcare agency, better eating habits may become a national obsession.
That should prove timely for two Triangle-based health organizations that are teaming up to study how health coaching can help chronically ill people participating in the nation’s largest fruits and vegetables prescription program.
The study revolves around “Food is Medicine,’’ a national movement that provides produce to patients who may not have access or money for healthy food. Reinvestment Partners, a Durham nonprofit, operates the Eat Well program, launched seven years ago to provide patients with prepaid debit cards to buy produce at major retailers.
Reinvestment Partners is now partnering with Durham-based ZealCare, a spinoff of Duke Health, to explore the combination of health coaching by the hospital system and the Eat Well program. Starting midyear, the study will seek to understand how health coaching can improve the conditions of patients with congestive heart failure who are getting fruits and vegetables.
