UW Well being & Dean Well being Plan accomplice with Second Harvest Foodbank to battle vitamin insecurity

MADISON, Wisconsin (WMTV) – Two health systems at a medical center come together this Christmas season for a common cause: fighting hunger.

SSM and UW Health’s Dean Health Plan are supporting Second Harvest Foodbank through NBC15’s Share Your Holidays campaign to ensure better health for their patients and families coping with food and nutrition insecurity.

When you think of a pantry, you probably think of durable goods first, but Second Harvest guides know that a good meal can’t always be limited to a can.

“More than 60% of the food we distributed last year was fresh produce, protein and dairy products. This is often the most nutritious category of food for people, ”said Michelle Orge, President and CEO of SHFB of Southern Wisconsin.

Diet without these nutritious and healthy options can have direct health effects. A third of the people Second Harvest serves have diabetes and more than half have high blood pressure.

Other chronic diseases associated with food insecurity are, according to Dr. Cassie Vanderwall, a clinical nutritionist at UW Health and director of the program for community nutrition and health education, high cholesterol and obesity.

“Nutrition is a very individual science. Yes, MyPlate works really well for talking about the principles of meal composition and the absorption of all your vitamins and minerals, but we know that in the face of food insecurity, physical hunger can affect the environment in the body, “said Dr. Vanderwall.

Vanderwall’s team screen patients for food and nutritional insecurity. “We are asking about something called the vital sign of hunger, which questions the ability to get food and really the privilege of having food and the money to buy food. So we know right at the beginning of the conversation what to go home? “

To understand these health implications and find long-term solutions, UW Health’s relationship with Second Harvest comes into play. UW stocks its emergency food bank and houses pop-up pantries through the resources of Second Harvest.

“It’s a comfortable, safe environment. Families roll into their cars, slam the trunk open, they get a box of food and they go on their way. No questions are asked, ”explained Vanderwall.

She went on to explain that in Dane County itself, many people who receive food stamps cannot afford daily meals because of the higher cost of food.

“We know that groceries in areas like Dane County cost more, about $ 3.40 per meal, compared to the greater Wisconsin area, where meals may be as low as $ 2.90,” Vanderwall said.

For this reason, Second Harvest is providing nutritious and fresh food to families for free. Addressing the social determinants of food and nutrition insecurity is an integral part of keeping patients healthy for both UW Health and SSM’s Dean Health Plan.

“We as a health plan, much like UW Health, our partner here in the community, really saw Second Harvest as a really important key to connecting our communities to food and improving food security,” said Dr. Kevin Eichhorn, the Dean Health Plan’s chief medical officer.

Eichhorn went on to explain that Dean Health Plan’s relationship with Second Harvest as an insurance provider helps its patients “address social determinants like food security, ensure they have access to healthy foods to better manage their chronic illnesses, help with any” behavioral health problems they have that ultimately aid academic and professional performance help people become better members of the community. “

This joint mission of fighting disease by fighting hunger is why Dean Health Plan and UW Health contribute year after year to NBC15’s Share Your Holidays campaign, which provides 25% of Second Harvests funding and groceries for the year .

“It wouldn’t be possible without this campaign. We just couldn’t provide these very important things that we all want to make available to our families, ”Orge said.

Copyright 2021 WMTV. All rights reserved.