Inside NJ’s bold plan to treat hunger like a prescription

🍽RWJBarnabas Health has opened its fifth “Food Farmacy” in Hamilton to fight food insecurity and chronic disease in Mercer County.

🍽 Referred patients receive free healthy groceries, plus dietitian counseling and nutrition education to manage conditions like diabetes and hypertension.

🍽 A separate Newark-based farm-to-community hub, Harvest, will launch in March to improve food distribution across New Jersey.

HAMILTON (Mercer) — In an effort to combat food insecurity in New Jersey, RWJBarnabas Health has opened its fifth “Food Farmacy.”

It was launched in partnership with Mercer Street Friends, a leading organization that addresses hunger and poverty in Mercer County, and Fairgrown Farm, a local farm and distributor in Pennington.

RWJ Fitness and Wellness Center, Hamilton (Google Street View)

New ‘Food Farmacy’ opens in Hamilton to fight food insecurity

Located inside the fitness and wellness center at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, 3100 Quakerbridge Road in Hamilton (Mercerville), the food farmacy not only gives patients access to healthy foods, but also provides them access to registered dieticians, personalized nutrition counseling, and education designed to support long-term health and chronic disease management for those in Mercer County.

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“Each one of these patients is able to meet with a dietician to get evidence-based education and information on how to make better choices, and what choices they should be making as a way to treat, manage, or prevent a chronic condition,” said Barbara Mintz, Senior Vice President of Social Impact and Community Investment at RWJBarnabas Health.

RWJBarnabas Health leadership, including Mark E. Manigan, President and Chief Executive Officer, RWJBarnabas Health; Lisa Breza, Chief Administrative Officer, RWJUH Hamilton; Barbara Mintz, Senior Vice President, Social Impact and Community Investment, RWJBarnabas Health; Balpreet Grewal-Virk, Senior Vice President, Community Health, RWJBarnabas Health; and Diane Grillo, Vice President, Health Promotion, RWJUH Hamilton; gathered to cut the ribbon to mark the opening of the Food Farmacy at RWJUH Hamilton, and were joined by community leaders and partners, including Hamilton Mayor Jeff Martin; Assemblywoman Tennille McCoy; Hopewell Borough Mayor Ryan Kennedy; Mercer County Commissioner Nina Melker; Mercer County Executive Daniel Benson; Mercer County Deputy Administrator Taraun Tice McKnight; James “Butter” Allen, Chief Operating Officer, Mercer Street Friends; and Mark Dinglasan, Executive Director of the New Jersey Office of the Food Security Advocate; as well as members of RWJUH Hamilton’s Board of Trustees.

How the program helps manage diabetes, hypertension and obesity

The dietician also has a counseling space where she can see folks, give them the proper assessment in terms of their nutrition status, and then talk to them about any food preferences, any culturally-appropriate requests. Then she takes them down to the farmacy and they shop for healthy food, Mintz said.

People can shop twice a month for food at the farmacy.

Those foods include canned fruits and vegetables, canned proteins, and shelf-stable foods like cereals and pastas. Plus, there are five refrigerators full of fresh fruits and healthy greens thanks to Fairgrown Farm.

Mintz said the food farmacy is not open to just anyone. Patients must be referred to by their primary physician. She said that if a person is screened for food insecurity, they would then be recommended to the food farmacy and the dieticians.

“Food is medicine. Many of our diseases are linked to food behaviors and the choices of food, and since those who are screening food insecure are also nutrition-insecure. So, we look at both ends of the spectrum to make sure folks are getting the healthy foods that they need to manage, treat, or prevent any kind of chronic conditions,” Mintz said.

Such conditions include diabetes, hypertension, or obesity.

The Retail Pharmacy and Food Farmacy at Saint James Health in Newark (RWJBarnabas Health)

RWJBarnabas Health expands food farmacy network across NJ

RWJBarnabas Health has four other food farmacies in the state. They include the Green Apple Rx Food Farmacy at Jersey City Medical Center, the Women’s Wellness Food Farmacy at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center, the Retail Pharmacy and Food Farmacy at Saint James Health in Newark, and the RWJ Fitness and Wellness Center in New Brunswick.

“So much of our health status is tied to food. It’s a very prominent social determinant of health. As health care providers, we really understand that we need to not only provide the education, but we need to provide the food as well, because you can’t have one without the other, and solve the problem,” Mintz said.

Harvest, an RWJBarnabas Health Farm to Community Center plans to open in Newark in March (Google Street View)

Newark ‘Harvest’ hub aims to fix NJ food distribution gaps

In March, the health system also plans to open Harvest: an RWJBarnabas Health Farm to Community Center in Newark, in partnership with the Salvation Army.

This will help bring in farm food from all over the Garden State into this one space, so the food can be distributed to where it needs to be, Mintz said.

The problem is not production. She said there is plenty of food in New Jersey. The problem is distribution, getting the food where it needs to be.

There are three components to Harvest: to help distribute food, help local businesses learn how important it is to provide healthy food, and provide the community with the needed education for nutrition and healthy food choices.

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