Food as Health—one of four focus areas of Memorial Hermann Community Health—addresses food insecurity and access to food, while offering education about nutrition. Patients who are identified as food-insecure through hospital and community-based food insecurity screenings receive support applying for benefits, a referral to the Houston Food Bank and guidance on questions to ask for food-pantry services. Patients who receive our services from our hospitals with Community Resource Centers are provided with basic food care packages.
Across Greater Houston, 38% of our neighbors (43% of Harris County residents) live in a “food desert,” meaning they do not have access to healthy, nutritious food within one-half mile of their homes. These families must weigh the costs of traveling to buy healthy food farther away from home or purchasing the less nourishing food nearby.
Not having access to healthy food and nutritional knowledge can have a direct link to obesity and chronic diseases for individuals of all ages. It also can negatively affect how children and adolescents behave and perform in school.
Our Food as Health programs aim to help families get access to healthy food as well as nutritional awareness and culturally sensitive dietary education.
Culture of Food Health
By enhancing green spaces and creating nutrition hubs, community members can attend nutrition education classes, agriculture and gardening workshops and work together for the success of community gardens. Garden education classes are available year-round and are aimed at cultivating thriving communities through gardening and access to healthy, local foods.
By working alongside partners such as Urban Harvest and Common Threads, individuals can receive the fruits and vegetables harvested from the community garden and participate in cooking demonstrations of healthy, tasty meals. Monthly, a mobile farmers market provides community members additional healthy food choices. This market is a Double Up Food Bucks site, which allows customers to pay with their EBT/Lone Star cards and receive a free dollar of fresh produce for every EBT dollar spent.
For more information, contact Jorge Sanchez, Jorge.Sanchez@memorialhermann.org
Food Rx
Students and families at our school-based Burbank Health Center and WAVE Health Center learn to manage their health and increase their understanding of wholesome nutrition, while reducing the financial stress of household grocery costs. Participants fill their Food Rx (prescription) with healthy options from the Houston Food Bank and learn to utilize their choices in creating balanced meals for the whole family.
Visit the Houston Food Bank for more Information.
Core Connections
Empowering participants to actively embrace healthy choices, this eight-week health and wellness educational program aims to break cycles that prevent successful management of chronic conditions. Participants learn how to make constructive, healthy and economical choices, thereby improving their family’s health, reducing the likelihood of chronic health conditions, positively impacting the behavior and achievement rates of their children, and improving their overall quality of life.
Curriculum topics include creating action plans, how to improve habits or behaviors, nutritional facts, stress management through exercise and meditation, and eating healthy on a budget. The program creates a safe environment for community members and clinical staff to have robust conversations and co-create solutions.
For more information, contact Jorge Sanchez, Jorge.Sanchez@memorialhermann.org
Comida y Comunidad
Residents of Greater North Houston are invited to gather with their community the mornings of the third and fourth Saturdays of each month at the Wesley Community Center, 1235 Lorraine St., Houston, Texas 77009, for fellowship, food distribution, educational opportunities and referrals to additional social services. We invite residents of the Greater Houston area to volunteer each Saturday as we serve the needs of over 300 households within the Greater North Houston region.
For more information, contact Jorge Sanchez, program manager, at Jorge.Sanchez@Memorialhermann.org or visit Volunteer Houston to sign up for our bi-monthly volunteer events.
Community Resource Centers
Offering a one-stop shop for community members to get help signing up for health care and social services, the Memorial Hermann Community Resource Centers are located on the campuses of four Memorial Hermann Hospitals: Southwest, Greater Heights, Northeast and Southeast. Patients discharged from any of these hospitals are provided with basic food care packages to aid in their recoveries.
To learn more, visit our Community Resource Centers webpage
USDA SNAP Enrollment
The Community Resource Centers provide assistance to individuals and families enrolling for SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits. This national program enables eligible individuals to purchase healthy food, reducing stress on household food budgets and fostering self-sufficiency.
Food Pharmacy
The “Food and More Market” or “Mercado de Comida y Mas,” at Memorial Hermann Southwest Hospital is an onsite grocery store for patients with food insecurities or chronic diseases. Eligible individuals will receive healthy food items, learn about nutrition and chronic disease management, attend cooking demonstrations and meet with a Community Health worker to assist with other social services.
In partnership with the Houston Food Bank’s Food Rx program, Memorial Hermann guides students at our school-based Burbank Health Center and WAVE Health Center to learn to manage their health and increase their understanding of wholesome nutrition, while reducing the financial stress of household grocery costs. Students fill their Food Rx (prescription) with healthy options from the Food Bank and learn to use their choices to create balanced meals for the whole family.
Resources
At Memorial Hermann, we are proud to partner with the following organizations to address food insecurity and food access, and to offer nutritional knowledge and education to our neighbors across Greater Houston.
Urban Harvest
Wesley Community Center
Calendar of Community Events
Check out upcoming Food as Health events and programs to improve the health of our community.
Learn More