Amie Shei, CEO and president of The Health Foundation of Central Massachusetts
3 hours ago
Health Foundation of Central Mass. launches medically-tailored food delivery program
Photo I Courtesy of Community Servings and The Health Foundation of Central Massachusetts
A range of locally-sourced fresh produce and healthy ingredients will be provided in medically tailored grocery delivery program.
The Health Foundation of Central Massachusetts in Worcester has committed nearly half a million dollars to addressing chronic illness and food insecurity in the region, partnering with Community Servings, a Jamaica Plain-based nonprofit, to create a novel grocery-delivery program.
Already enrolling program participants, the pilot initiative will provide free, medically-tailored groceries to those in Central Massachusetts with diet-related chronic illnesses experiencing food insecurity. Over 24 weeks, up to 55 clients will receive deliveries every two weeks with recipe how-tos similar to those of HelloFresh meal kits.
The program is funded by a $425,000 grant through The Health Foundation’s Synergy Initiative, which provides financing to projects tackling complex health issues that are often aimed at policy or systems change.
Prescribed by registered dietician nutritionist, the program accommodates five different food plans: a diabetic-specific diet, cardiac diet, renal (kidney) diet, vegetarian diet, and a general wellness option.
The initiative will provide nutrition education and counseling to prepare participants for meal preparation.
“This is a targeted intervention that looks to improve their health during this program, but also to equip them with the skills and resources so that they can continue preparing healthy meals on their own after this program ends,” said Amie Shei, president and CEO of The Health Foundation.
The initiative is an option for those transitioning off of medically-tailored meals, an offering provided by Community Servings for the past 35 years. In 2024, the nonprofit provided 64,000 meals to 405 participants throughout Central Massachusetts, according to a Wednesday press release. For its newest program, Community Servings will partner with Leominster-based social equity nonprofit Growing Places to source ingredients for local farms.
The program will work to translate recipes into different languages and adapt recipes to suit cultural preferences.
The program is designed to prevent participants’ medical conditions from worsening.
“If somebody is suffering from a health condition, if they have poor nutrition because they’re food insecure, don't have the resources and knowledge to prepare healthy meals on their own at home, they're certainly at risk of having their health conditions worsen as a result,” said Shei.
Medically-tailored meals are sometimes covered by MassHealth, said Shei. This is where the project’s advocacy component comes into play.
During the initiative, Community Servings and The Health Foundation will evaluate the intervention, collecting data necessary to demonstrate its impact to inform policy changes.
“We're hoping to build the evidence base necessary to advocate that these services also be supported in the future,” said Shei.
Mica Kanner-Mascolo is a staff writer at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the healthcare and diversity, equity, and inclusion industries.
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