In the lead up to and during National Health Center Week, VCHA’s Food As Medicine Registered Dietitian and Nutritionist Adrienne Harden hit the road to visit several of our member health centers, sharing nutrition resources with patients and staff alike.
Throughout her visits, Adrienne met with staff about nutrition programming at their centers, including VCHA’s Food As Medicine program, and tabled at patient-facing events, handing out nutritious snacks and accessible nutrition information, like recipes, snack swap ideas, and grocery shopping tips.
July 25 – Community Access Network
Adrienne kicked off National Health Center Week early with an amazing site visit to Community Access Network. She met with their Patient Engagement Team, focusing on ways to expand their nutrition programs and resources through VCHA’s Food As Medicine program.
July 26 – Blue Ridge Medical Center
Next up was the Nelson Community Health Fair hosted by Blue Ridge Medical Center!
Here, Adrienne engaged with BRMC’s patients and the Arrington community with her table of games, giveaways, fresh fruit and nutritious snacks, and resources for attendees.
August 1-2 – Eastern Shore Rural Health
The first weekend of National Health Center Week, Adrienne (and VCHA’s Director of Health Center Control Network Dr. Angela H. Taylor) headed out to the Eastern Shore! First on the agenda was a tour and site visit led by ESRH’s CEO Jeannette Edwards at their Eastville Community Health Center. Next, they headed to a second site visit to at the Onley Community Health Center, where they met ESRH’s health education and behavioral health teams for a roundtable discussion and luncheon.
The next day was ESRH’s second annual Be Well Block Party! It was VCHA’s second year participating.
Throughout the day, Adrienne and Angela engaged with over 250 community members, and handed out resources, fresh fruit, healthy snacks, smoothie samples, and recipes. Adrienne even hosted Nutrition Trivia in the Town Square!
Her trivia was so successful that Eastern Shore’s local radio station, live on-site at the Block Party, asked her to join LIVE on WESR 103.3FM The Shore to speak about VCHA and practical tips in nutrition. All in all, it was a very productive trip!
August 4 – Southern Dominion Health System, Inc
After a quick rest day, Adrienne was back on the road. All National Health Center Week, Southern Dominion Health System was celebrating 40 years of service with an open house at their Lunenburg Medical Center in Victoria, VA.
Adrienne joined them to table on Monday morning, provided smoothie samples, recipes, health information and more to Lunenburg patients (and staff!). After tabling, she met with their community health worker and Diabetes Educator to understand the needs of their community and ways to expand their nutrition programs through VCHA’s resources.
All in all, it was a purposeful few weeks of sharing information and building connections with Virginia health center patients and staff alike. Adrienne is unwavering in her commitment to developing a range of and bringing awareness to quality, affordable nutrition resources and programs available through VCHA’s Food As Medicine program.
To learn more about the resources and programs available, check out the Food As Medicine page on our website or get in touch with Adrienne directly at aharden@vcha.org.
