Harvesters–The Community Food Network, Sunflower Medical Group and Humana Inc. are participating in a mobile food collaboration to offer members of the community fresh, nutritious food items at 1 p.m. on the fourth Saturday of each month, beginning March 23, at 2040 Hutton Road, Kansas City, Kansas.
The location is at Heartland Primary Care on Hutton Road, which is near 110th north of Parallel Parkway.
Members of the community may visit the mobile food pantry to receive food at no cost.
According to a spokesman, this initiative will help fight food insecurity in the area and the community will find it easy to access the new services. People will not have to show proof of residency or income.
A spokesman said this is the first time Harvesters has partnered with a medical group to provide a mobile food distribution program. It is a way to make sure people are getting healthy food they need so they can stay healthy, the spokesman said.
The food distribution is open to everyone in the community, including any patients at the medical group, as well as anyone from surrounding communities, the spokesman said.
“No patient or member of our community should have to choose between medication and food,” said Dr. Yvette Guislain Crabtree, Sunflower Medical Group’s president. “We’re proud to partner with Harvesters and Humana to improve the lives of the community and give back healthy days by launching a food distribution program that will help our patients achieve their best health.”
Food insecurity is a societal issue that affects 1 in 8 people in the United States. In the Kansas City area alone, nearly 14 percent of the community face food insecurity. Defined as the lack of access to enough nutritionally adequate foods to live an active, healthy life, food insecurity contributes to poor health, lower productivity and higher medical costs. “Helping our patients with food insecurity will help them to stay healthier and better able to take care of their overall health,” said Dr. Guislain Crabtree, Sunflower Medical Group. “Since we started screening our patient population for food insecurity we have found many more people than we thought we would find who will benefit from this program.”
“We are excited to launch this new mobile food distribution in partnership with Humana and Sunflower Medical Group,” said Harvesters’ president and CEO, Valerie Nicholson-Watson. “The distribution will help us increase access to fresh fruits and vegetables to families in need of emergency food assistance and to those managing chronic illnesses like diabetes and hypertension. We know the right type of food can help people lead healthier lives.”
Humana’s objective is to create partnerships and integrated health systems that are positioned to address social determinants of health, such as food insecurity and social isolation, and how they affect health care outside of the doctor’s office.
“Our collaboration with Harvesters and Sunflower Medical Group aims to bring mobile food distribution to an area with unmet needs,” said Jeremy Gaskill, Humana’s regional president. “This joint community effort expands our outreach and addresses the demand for emergency and supplemental food as we seek to provide solutions that address food insecurity in the Kansas City Metro area.”
More information about mobile food distribution at Sunflower is at https://www.sunflowermed.com/.
Harvesters sponsors many food distribution points throughout Wyandotte County on a regular basis, according to the Harvesters spokesperson.
People who want to see the food distribution point closest to their home, or the most convenient time for them, may click on the “get help” button at harvesters.org and they will see a list of mobile locations in the area.