The Walmart Basis and American Coronary heart Affiliation on Wednesday introduced a Wholesome Hearts NWA Way of life Rx initiative designed to extend college students’ and households’ entry to wholesome meals.
The vitamin prescription program might be applied by Saint Francis Group Clinic and three school-based clinics at Panther Well being and Wellness Clinic in Siloam Springs, and Jones Elementary and Parson Hills Elementary faculties in Springdale, in response to a information launch.
This system goals to succeed in 1,500 households — 500 at every of the school-based clinics, stated Serena Munns, American Coronary heart Affiliation vp of strategic relationships.
The affiliation labored collaboratively with Group Clinic to handle vitamin and life-style change, one of many areas of biggest want, Munns stated. One in eight folks in Northwest Arkansas are impacted by meals insecurity, she stated.
Way of life Rx addresses every little thing from hypertension to vitamin safety and gives workers help, entry to healthful vegetables and fruit and bodily exercise suggestions, she stated.
Funding for the initiative comes from a $250,000 Walmart Basis grant, in response to the discharge.
Group Clinic gives well being care to 41,000 folks in Northwest Arkansas, stated Amanda Echegoyen, chief working officer. As a part of the clinic’s efforts to handle social determinants of well being, the clinic gives case administration, diabetic training, vitamin training and affected person advocacy in English, Spanish and Marshallese, she stated.
The partnership with the American Coronary heart Affiliation gives the clinic with the tangible instruments to do that work, she stated.
Group Clinic’s eight school-based amenities are designed to serve college students and workers however are open to the complete neighborhood, Echegoyen stated. The clinic’s objective is to cut back missed classroom hours and scale back the time dad and mom should miss work to take youngsters to appointments.
Well being care suppliers on the three collaborating school-based clinics will determine sufferers who would profit from this system and write a prescription for vitamin and train, stated Stephanie Mendoza, a sophisticated observe registered nurse at Parson Hills Elementary Faculty.
“This offers them one thing bodily to take dwelling with suggestions for them to dwell a more healthy life-style,” she stated.
Sufferers additionally will obtain a voucher for regionally sourced produce, booklets with heart-healthy recipes and be related with a affected person advocate who will present details about Supplemental Diet Help advantages and referrals to vitamin counseling, in response to the discharge. All data might be offered in English, Spanish and Marshallese.
Mendoza stated she anticipates this system will affect a lot of her sufferers by serving to them keep away from drugs and preserving their hearts wholesome. For instance, Mendoza stated she usually sees sufferers with borderline hypertension who’re in a position to appropriate the problem with weight loss plan and train.
Clinics are recommending Way of life Rx to just about each affected person who walks by the doorways, Echegoyen stated.
“We imagine these dietary suggestions and bodily exercise suggestions can serve sufferers very well to stop and handle ongoing power illness,” Echegoyen stated.
Claudia Aguilar (prime left), an teacher from En Fuego Dance and Health, leads attendees in a dance train on Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2021, at a press occasion for the launch of Wholesome Hearts NWA – Way of life Rx, a vitamin prescription program, on the Middle for Nonprofits on the JTL Outlets in Springdale. The initiative, in partnership with the Walmart Basis and the American Coronary heart Affiliation, might be applied by Saint Francis Group Clinic and three school-based clinics at Panther Well being & Wellness Clinic in Siloam Springs, and Jones Elementary Faculty and Parson Hills Elementary Faculty in Springdale. Go to nwaonline.com/211216Daily/ to see extra pictures. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Hank Layton)
