ProduceRx was created by a first-year medical student after she realized the value in connecting patients with local Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). After a successful first-year pilot, the program has grown to include additional clinics, patients, health system employees, students, and local food banks. ProduceRx aims to connect healthcare and local agriculture to benefit both community health and the local economy.
Our current healthcare-agriculture partnership model involves 1 health system, 3 clinics, and 1 partner farmS within Central Pennsylvania.
How the main patient program works:
ProduceRx aims to increase access to fresh produce for patients and provide education to foster nutrition and healthy eating habits in ways that profoundly impact their long-term health. The program works as follows:
- Clinicians at participating clinics write a ProduceRx “prescription” to patients whom they believe would benefit from nutritional education and increased access to fresh produce. The “prescription” enables patients to purchase a $15 subsidized medium CSA box of produce items grown locally at Strites’ Orchard.
- If a patient decides to enter the program, he/she will complete an initial registration online. ProduceRx
is not contractual, instead, initial registration will allow the patient to return by the end of each week to order a box for the subsequent week, if so desired. - Patients are able to choose their desired weekly delivery site from various locations across Central PA: Camp Hill, Elizabethtown, Hummelstown, Hershey, Palmyra, Mechanicsburg, and several sites in Harrisburg, including Midtown, Paxtonia, and Paxtang.
- ProduceRx also consists of a nutrition education component with printed materials included each week (e.g. cookbooks, cooking magazines, handouts, activity guides, coloring books, and more!).
How the employee/student program works:
- Penn State Health employees and students can participate in a CSA program with access to online ProduceRx nutrition education & recipes. Employees & students can choose from Strites Orchard:
This program has been designed with both patients and providers in mind. As so many clinic visits and comorbidities are associated with underlying weight and nutrition issues, it is essential that clinicians have time to adequately address these acute issues and be able to provide a means to address the pertinent underlying chronic issues of malnutrition and obesity. As Hippocrates said, “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.”
