11/19/24 –
There is a program in western Massachusetts that provides a special kind of medical treatment for food-insecure residents who have health risks or conditions. It does that with fresh fruit and vegetable prescriptions.
For NEPM’s Hunger Awareness week, we spoke with Lorraine Cordeiro, professor of nutrition at UMass Amherst, and lead investigator for the Springfield Prescription Produce Collaborative. It’s a partnership with Baystate Health and Wellspring Cooperative, which runs Springfield’s Go-Fresh mobile market.
Lorraine Cordeiro, UMass Amherst: We know that there’s been rising food insecurity in the western Mass. region, differentially from what we’re seeing in both Worcester and kind of central Massachusetts and eastern Mass. around the Boston area. We’re experiencing much higher rates of food insecurity. And Hampden County has some of the poorest — both health, social service and human service, and public health — outcomes in the state.
