When cancer strikes, Second Harvest allays one worry

By Beth Donze, Clarion Herald
Photos | COURTESY UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER

A food pantry now in its second year of operation at the Cancer Center at University Medical Center (UMC) is giving oncology patients one less thing to worry about: nutritious food to help sustain them and their families during their taxing period of treatment.

The Therapeutic Food Pantry, stocked by Second Harvest Food Bank of Greater New Orleans and Acadiana, enables patients to select from a variety of fresh, dried and canned food located within a Cancer Center office lined with shelving and refrigeration units.

The first hospital-based food pantry in Louisiana, it is designed to offer high-quality, nutritious food to patients who might be struggling with malnutrition, food insecurity or who just don’t have the time or energy to go to the grocery or a community food bank.

There when you need it

“It’s a wonderful service. More hospitals need to do this,” said Gay Carroll, a UMC oncology patient who has been using the pantry service since its July 2018 debut.

Carroll, who has Stage 4 metastatic breast cancer and relies on public transportation, appreciates the ease of using the pantry, located just down the hallway from her doctor’s office.

“I can access groceries here when I come to see the doctor. It saves me time and effort and gives me more time to rest and take care of myself,” said Carroll, 81.

“If you receive food stamps (as I do), they never last the full month, or you’re really scraping toward the end of the month,” she said. “This has helped me stretch out my food items so I can get better nutrition. I think it’s a really good program for patients like me. I don’t have a lot of extra energy to spare.”

Carroll especially appreciates the seasonal fresh fruits and vegetables that help her throw together more substantial meals – items such as bell peppers and onions.

“And they have staples like beans, brown rice and oatmeal, which I use a lot – just basic staples that help me stretch my budget,” she said. “I always get apples, and lately there have been avocados, apples, oranges and grapes. Sometimes they have cheese, and I can get eggs. It’s pretty complete.”

Dietary oversight provided

Cancer Center dieticians Bailey Doctor and Laura Kerns work closely with Second Harvest to make sure the pantry is stocked with food that will give their patients adequate nutrition and calories. The dieticians accompany patients to the pantry to assist with their selections and bag the food for them – for sanitary purposes and to ease the strain on their bodies.

“It’s an added burden for the patient if they have to worry about food,” Doctor said, noting that accessing high-quality and nutritious food is financially prohibitive for many cancer patients, especially if they cannot work during their treatment.

“We have people when they first come who feel really defeated and overwhelmed by the process of being diagnosed,” Doctor said. “It’s good to have them feel like they can take on this cancer diagnosis and know that they’ll be able to have food for their treatment and beyond. It’s for their whole family.”

           

A need is signaled

The on-site pantry is a response to a 2015 Cancer Center survey that asked patients to identify their biggest challenges. The survey found that 73% of the patients lived below the poverty level, and that half of all patients found it difficult to afford the food and nutritional supplements they needed to support their cancer treatment.

During its first year of operation, 380 patients signed up to access the pantry, with 187 patients visiting it in June alone. Protein-packed canned tuna and chicken are on its shelves, as well as items such as shelf-stable, 1% milk, almond milk, Pedialyte, Ensure, Orgain and Kate Farms nutritional supplements.

“Something new that we’re starting is prepared meals, pre-cut vegetables and pre-cut fruit,” said Luella Provenza, Second Harvest’s chief impact officer. The pilot program offers patients a pre-cooked protein, such as chicken or beef, and a side vegetable prepared in Second Harvest’s community kitchen and tailored to patients’ individual dietary needs by UMC’s dieticians. Patients need only pop it in the microwave or their home oven.

Caring for the ‘whole’ person

Second Harvest and UMC also have partnered to offer pantry users a variety of wrap-around services designed to provide holistic care. Patients can attend cooking classes and demonstrations on how to prepare healthy meals, using items that are available in the pantry, as well as twice-a-month yoga classes, support groups and art therapy.

Delgado massage therapy students doing their clinical rotations provided 718 massages to patients in year one of the food pantry, Provenza said.

An evaluation of the pantry’s first year of operation also revealed that a whopping 91 percent of patients had found food in the pantry that they wanted to eat.

  “What we’re finding is that they’re seeing positive change in terms of the amount of fruit and vegetable intake,” Provenza said. “We’ve also seen patients show positive change in terms of weight gain, which obviously is really important to folks going through chemotherapy.”

Beyond the numbers, of course, are the stories that tell Provenza the onsite pantry is making a significant difference in the lives of whole families. Recently, one patient shared that it had been difficult to feed all the children in her family.

“She signed up for the pantry and was able to access food not only for herself but also for her family,” Provenza said. “She saw this as a huge relief, because she no longer has to worry about how she’s going to feed her children.”

The pantry at the cancer center is a collaboration among UMC, Second Harvest, Baptist Community Ministries, Methodist Health System Foundation and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana Foundation. For more information, including how to donate to Second Harvest, visit www.no-hunger.org.

Beth Donze can be reached at [email protected].