Jun 22, 2016

Nurses Serve Wisdom at Food Banks, Farmers Markets

A New York Times story about food banks—and diabetes—touches on a theme similar to one in the recently released video about interprofessional collaboration at health care facilities. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation video, which points out that all such efforts rest on a Culture of Health, reports that health care providers at one featured site, the Community Health Center in Middletown, Connecticut, sometimes accompany clients to a nearby farmers market to talk about the role fresh foods have in helping people live healthier lives.

The Times story reports that these safety nets increasingly recognize the need for healthier offerings, and at least one counts on a nurse to help: at the Food Bank of Corpus Christi in Texas, Georgiana Bradshaw, RN, CDE, is on staff. The story reports that Bradshaw guides those who visit, and quotes one resident as saying that, with the nurse’s help, she learned to keep her blood sugar level steady and take her medications regularly.

Just another example of how nurses contribute to healthier lives in and outside of health facilities.

Have your own experience along those lines? Leave a comment below, or let us know.