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Food as a prescription for health

The Collaborative Care Program at Good Samaritan Hospital includes the food 'FoodRx' program. CCP connects patients with wraparound care, including access to a pantry full of healthy foods, provided by Maryland Food Bank. Photo: Medstar Health
The Collaborative Care Program at Good Samaritan Hospital includes the food 'FoodRx' program. CCP connects patients with wraparound care, including access to a pantry full of healthy foods, provided by Maryland Food Bank. Photo: Medstar Health

You are what you eat, so when you eat healthy, you become healthy. That’s the message from a new program calledFood Rx at Medstar Health. We talk with Angela Roberson, a registered dietician for the Collaborative Care Program at Good Samaritan Hospital, and the lead dietician for Food Rx.

Giving patients access to nutrition education,as well as full meals has made a marked difference in her work, "It’s really been a game changer. Food Rx is really the first of its kind in this region, and it’s saving lives."

Plus, we hear from one of Food Rx’s partners, Nekeisia Booyer of the Maryland Food Bank, about why teaming up with healthcare systems to regularly deliver healthy food to patients is all part of the mission.

Melissa Gerr is a Senior Producer for On the Record. She started in public media at Twin Cities Public Television in St. Paul, Minn., where she is from, and then worked as a field producer for Oregon Public Broadcasting in Portland. She made the jump to audio-lover in Baltimore as a digital media editor at Mid-Atlantic Media and Laureate Education, Inc. and as a field producer for "Out of the Blocks." Her beat is typically the off-beat with an emphasis on science, culture and things that make you say, 'Wait, what?'
Sheilah Kast is the host of On The Record, Monday-Friday, 9:30-10:00 am.