This Saturday kicks off the pilot “Fruit and Vegetable Prescription” program at the Columbia Heights farmers market, and we couldn’t be more excited!
The program, developed and generously supported by Wholesome Wave, will track the effects of increased fresh fruit and vegetable consumption on health indicators among low-income, obese patients. It is one of only a handful of such pilots around the country, and the only one in the District, which literally gives doctors the option to prescribe a regimen of fresh, healthy food to at-risk patients.
We’re partnering with doctors at the Upper Cardozo Health Center (who select program participants at high risk for obesity-related chronic illnesses), 35 area families (allotted $1 per day per family member to spend on fresh fruits and vegetables at farmers markets), and four other markets in the area (14th & U, Mount Pleasant, Bloomingdale, and Glover Park-Burleith) to make the Veggie Rx program possible.
We look forward to welcoming the families, some for their very first visit, to the CHCM “farmacy” this weekend. (We welcome other first-time and returning shoppers as well, of course!)
Intrigued? So were the folks at our local NPR station. Learn more about the Veggie Rx program here.
