Prescribing Fresh Produce in the U.P.

Food insecurity in the Upper Peninsula is closely tied to chronic conditions like diabetes and heart disease. According to Upper Peninsula Commission for Area Progress (UPCAP), one in seven U.P. residents cannot afford nutritious food. Led by UPCAP, a coalition of more than two dozen organizations is treating fresh produce as a health intervention.

UPCAP has received support, including a two-year $682,776 grant, from the Superior Health Foundation to develop a Food as Medicine program. 

“When UPCAP brought us this proposal, the numbers were hard to ignore: one in seven residents across the Upper Peninsula are food insecure, and that insecurity is directly tied to the chronic health conditions the Superior Health Foundation works to prevent,” says Megan Murphy, SHF CEO. “The Food as Medicine model appealed to us because it treats fresh produce as a health intervention, built on a prescription for health approach that already had early evidence of working in the U.P.” 

Through the U.P. Food as Medicine program, medical providers can refer eligible patients for $15 weekly produce vouchers, redeemable at 28 farmers’ markets and farm stands across the region. The story also features work at the Alger County Commission on Aging, Schoolcraft Memorial Hospital, and BHK Child Development Center.

Read the full story, reported by Jennifer Donovan for UPWord.

This story was made possible by support from Superior Health Foundation.