Achievement Awards Spotlight: St. Luke’s University Health Network

July 05, 2024

HAP's annual Achievement Awards honor hospitals and health systems for their innovation, creativity, and commitment to patient care. The Achievement Awards showcase and share member hospitals’ and health systems’ successful programs and best practices.

This year, St. Luke’s University Health Network won the Community Champions Award for its project to improve food access and address health equity for underserved communities.

Here’s what you need to know:

• The challenge:  The COVID-19 pandemic amplified existing food insecurity nationally and within the network’s service area. Improving healthy food access is one of the system’s key strategies to prevent chronic disease, especially in underserved communities.
• Taking action:  The community health team deployed several best practices for health care, including a new screening process for food insecurity, referrals to existing community resources like food banks and food pantries, and leveraging partnerships with schools to host food distribution programs tailored to their specific community’s needs and characteristics, among other initiatives.
• Results:  Since the start of the project, all the identified high-need communities in the network’s service area had established food access initiatives.
  • Since the COVID-19 pandemic, new food access sites increased by 67 percent, with each location serving over 140 households per month, and some serving over 200 households monthly.
• Next steps:  The community health department continues to leverage local partnerships to sustain these activities, especially with local food access nonprofits.
• Quotable:  “While the department aims to improve overall food access for community members facing hunger, additional intention is made to incorporate fresh, local produce, meats, and dairy to ensure a healthy diet is possible for underserved communities,” the team noted in its entry. “This project has ultimately helped to strengthen the network’s role as a leader for health equity.”

Congratulations to St. Luke’s University Health Network for its outstanding efforts to support health equity and food access. Learn more about the project online.

Questions about the HAP Achievement Awards may be directed to HAP Member Services at (717) 561-5359.