In Mississippi, Working to Treat Food Insecurity
Through a new program, health centers will give patients access to healthy food and educate them about how best to cook it.
Young gardeners pose at Coastal Family Health Center s children s garden. (Photo courtesy of Coastal Family Health Center)
At one of the oldest community health centers in the country – that’s Delta Health Center in Mississippi – there’s a story about a famous doctor who used to write prescriptions for food.
Dr. Jack Geiger, the founding father of the community health center movement, would send his patients to the grocery store to get healthy food. The grocer would fill the order and send the bill to the health center.