June 22, 2020

Purdue pharmacy students develop program for food insecurity

Bags of groceries Students in the College of Pharmacy have created a program to send nutritious, nonperishable food boxes to individuals and families with food insecurities. (Photo provided)

Students in the College of Pharmacy have created a program to send nutritious, nonperishable food boxes to individuals and families with food insecurities. The program was created virtually and was a COVID-19-related relief program funded by a grant from the Indiana Association for Diabetes Care and Education Specialists (ADCES).

“I think that it is easy during this time to feel stuck, like you can’t do anything to help when there are so many people who need it,” says Claire Schumann, a recent pharmacy graduate. “When this opportunity presented itself, I was eager to team up with my peers to make even just a small impact on our community here in Indiana.”

The team of pharmacy students reached out to independent pharmacies across Indiana to assess the ability of each pharmacy to incorporate a food security screening and food box distribution into their daily workflow.

“Having just finished three months of rotations at an independent pharmacy offering everything from free delivery to diabetes education classes, I saw firsthand how much a pharmacy could do for their patients and the impact they could have in their community,” says Rachael Smith, another recent pharmacy graduate. “With the sudden shift in everyday life due to COVID-19, I knew those patients were relying on their pharmacies for more than just medications. I leapt at the chance to work with a pharmacy to further expand their patient services in a time of crisis – especially those with food insecurities who need essential items.”

JR Pharmacy, an independent community pharmacy with four branches across Terre Haute, Indiana, was selected to participate in the program.

“In looking for innovative ways to build upon existing infrastructures, Purdue pharmacy students reached out to several community pharmacies offering medication delivery services,” says Jasmine Gonzalvo, director for the Center of Health Equity and Innovation (CHEqI) through the College of Pharmacy at Purdue University and member of the leadership team with Indiana ADCES. “JR Pharmacy was the most capable, eager and friendly partner identified. They clearly wanted to support their clients through the pandemic in any way possible.”

After clients who had food security needs were identified, the JR Pharmacy team along with a local store, Baesler’s Market, assembled a standard food box with nonperishable foods. Dietitians were consulted to ensure that the boxes were nutritious. The boxes were then delivered with JR Pharmacy’s daily medication deliveries.

“Once members of the community heard about this program, we started getting calls from more people who needed help getting enough food for their families,” says Ron Vencel, president of JR Pharmacy. “There isn’t a shortage of people who need help right now. The people who received this food assistance were really grateful.”

The program was able to gather supplies for 36 food boxes with the $1,000 grant.

 “My hope is that this project would give others ideas to utilize similar mechanisms in the future, especially for those pharmacies that have the capability and convenience to partner with food suppliers,” Gonzalvo says. “This has been a nice opportunity to support health, to make sure that people are eating healthy foods, but also continuing to receive their medication.”

The program was a partnership with Purdue University College of Pharmacy students, CHEqI and Indiana ADCES.


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