The Healthy Meal Program: A food insecurity screening and referral program for urban dwelling older adults

Abstract

Objective To describe the Healthy Meal Program (HMP), a community‐academic partnership that aims to address the food insecurity and social isolation in older adults living in an urban setting. Program Implementation Low‐income older adults were screened for food insecurity and social isolation. A partnership with the food bank and a farm‐based organization helped provide a weekly congregate or home‐delivered meal, pilot a cooking class, and offer a mobile market selling fresh vegetables at discounted prices. Program Evaluation Overall, 339 individuals agreed to participate in the screening process. Sixty‐eight percent (n = 230) screened positive for food insecurity and 41% (n = 139) screened positive for social isolation. Among individuals who were food insecure, 159 were referred to a food commodity program, 31 to meals on wheels, 23 to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, and 28 to emergency food pantries. The mobile market served 75 participants weekly and 15 individuals took part in cooking classes. Conclusions Screening for food insecurity and social isolation in the HMP helped to assess the prevalence of these social determinants of health in low‐income older adults. Weekly congregate meals, home visits, and group cooking classes were initiatives taken to decrease the impact of food insecurity and social isolation in this vulnerable population.

Which financial stressors are linked to food insecurity among older adults in the United Kingdom, Germany, and the Netherlands? An exploratory study

“…This finding of the role of food costs improves our understanding of one pathway between low income and food insecurity in older age, as pointed out in earlier literature (Wang et al 2015;Lee et al 2015). The higher comparative price level for general consumption in the United Kingdom (116.4%) compared to the Netherlands (112.1%) and Germany (104.0%; EU28=100%) could explain this finding (Eurostat 2017a), and it confirmed insights from a recent qualitative study in the United Kingdom (Purdam and Esmail 2019) and research on the role of price-reduced meals in the United States (Diallo et al 2020). In the German sample of financially fragile older adults, medical costs were a predictor of food insecurity, confirming government statistics about high out-of-pocket expenditures in Germany, which were 12.2%, compared to 6.0% in the Netherlands, for example (Eurostat 2017b).…”

Food Security and Diet Quality Improvements among At-Risk, Low-Income, Older Adults following a Free Meal Pilot Program

“…Though our findings did not indicate improvement in loneliness measures, some intervention studies collect baseline cross-sectional data only among older adults like FSS and social isolation levels without follow-up data [ 33 ]. Some studies that assess impacts of food assistance programs like Meals on Wheels have used a study design similar to ours, comparing baseline and follow-up data and finding significant improvements in outcomes, such as protein intake and malnutrition risk [ 34 , 35 , 36 ].…”

Developing and testing a produce prescription implementation blueprint to improve food security in a clinical setting: a pilot study protocol

“…Nutrition security considers the nutritional value, affordability, accessibility, and safety of foods that promote well-being, with a focus on equity. While the pandemic exacerbated food and nutrition security, it also led to greater recognition of how local food systems could be leveraged in creative ways to get food to households [9,10], especially among minoritized communities. Alleviating food and nutrition insecurity will require tackling the correlates of poverty while designing sustainable interventions that increase access and availability to nutrientrich foods (e.g., vegetables) that are culturally informed.…”