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Jenna Portnoy

Dietitian Emily Frymark slid open a drawer inside a Children’s National Hospital clinic that looks as though it should store bandages or medicine to reveal a surprise: heaps of onions and garlic bulbs.

The produce is part of the food pharmacy at the Northwest Washington hospital, where patients can pick up fresh fruit and vegetables, pasta, cereal, canned foods and other supplies at their regular medical checkups.

The program is one way <a href="https://www.capitalareafoodbank.org/" target=_blank>the Capital Area Food Bank</a> is bundling what it knows best — feeding people — with other basic services to help them manage health issues.

“We’ve heard from our clients that there are few key things beyond food … that are barriers to their ability to go from this place of vulnerability to sustainability,” said Radha Muthiah, Capital Area Food Bank’s president and CEO. “And we heard from our clients that one of them was health conditions that they were facing.”

In addition to the food pharmacy at the Children’s National Hospital diabetes clinic, there are locations at Children’s primary-care clinic in Columbia Heights, Unity Health Care East of the River and University of Maryland Medical System’s Capital South hospital in Largo. More sites are in the works for Anacostia. Each location focuses on a different high-risk population, such as children, seniors or pregnant individuals.

People who are food-insecure are more than twice as likely as others to have a diet-related illness such as diabetes, hypertension and heart disease, said Susan Topping, the food bank’s senior director of food, policy and impact.

In 2019, the food bank mapped disease prevalence and food insecurity in the Washington region with a hunger heat map. That allowed officials to identify health clinics that could be partners for the food pharmacies, Topping said. The food bank serves the District; Montgomery and Prince George’s counties in Maryland; and Fairfax, Prince William and Arlington counties and Alexandria in Virginia.

The food pharmacy program took off in earnest during the pandemic when dietitians with the Children’s National diabetes program realized their patients were the same people picking up groceries from the food bank, laying bare the extent of health inequities.

“For someone to focus on their health, they cannot be hungry,” said Shideh Majidi, director of the Childhood and Adolescent Diabetes Program at Children’s National Hospital.

Craig Hudson

The organizations teamed up to survey patients about their needs, asking whether they worry food will run out before they get money to buy more and whether adults in the family have had to skip meals. Providers write “prescriptions” not only for medication but also for “Good food today for a healthier you tomorrow,” entitling households to groceries provided by the food bank at least twice a month.

The food varies seasonally, but a typical fall haul includes butternut squash, broccoli, apples, oranges, canned tuna, peanut butter, eggs and milk — almond or dairy based on preference — and recipe cards in English and Spanish for dishes such as chicken and cabbage lettuce cups with spicy sauce.

Iman Bangura, 19, a University of the District of Columbia student with a  history of diabetes in her family, was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in spring 2023. She has come to rely on the food pharmacy to  sustain her love of cooking healthfully.

A go-to recipe is carrot fries, she said. Using groceries from the food pharmacy and items she buys elsewhere, Bangura combines carrot sticks with cornstarch, spices and a little water and pops them in the air fryer for a fiber-rich snack. She also makes vegetable soup with potatoes, carrots and cabbage, and she recently tried seitan for a vegan take on chicken.

Bangura credits the food pharmacy program, the diabetes drug Ozempic and staying active for her ability to get her diabetes under control.

“Everything is working together,” she said. “The food, the medicine, my exercise.”

The food pharmacies are funded by philanthropy, and officials are measuring health outcomes and cost-effectiveness in hopes that the food pharmacy program can become a reimbursable expense through a Medicaid waiver and commercial insurance.

Food insecurity is on the rise in the region, especially among middle-income households, according to the food bank’s <a href="https://hunger-report.capitalareafoodbank.org/report-2024/">2024 Hunger Report. </a>

Last year, the food bank reported it saw need spike because of the end of federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/02/21/food-stamps-2023-snap-pandemic-benefits/">emergency allotments</a>, inflation and wages not keeping pace with increased costs. Changes that the incoming Trump administration could make to the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/11/18/gop-targets-medicaid-food-stamps/">federal food programs </a>mean even more people may come to rely on the food bank.

In the food bank’s region, 37 percent of households experienced food insecurity in its 2024 fiscal year, which ended in May — up 5 percent from the previous year, the report showed. The food bank distributed food for 64 million meals in that fiscal year.  That’s more than double pre-pandemic levels, and 5 million more than the fiscal year before.

Changes in the supply chain during and since the pandemic shifted, meaning the food bank buys about 60 percent of the food it gives away, with less reliance on products from retail donations and the government.

The food bank sorts the goods at warehouses in Lorton, Virginia, and Northeast Washington — where there was an upbeat vibe and music blasting on a recent weekday morning. From the warehouses, the goods go to 400 community partners, who can choose which foods best meet their clients’ needs and distribute them.

At least 40 percent of the food distributed is fresh produce, but organizers say they don’t want to be the food police. The Capital Area Food Bank is part of a network of 200 food banks around the country, each with its own jurisdiction and mission to feed people in a healthy and culturally competent way.

Abby Fenton, the food bank’s newly named chief advancement officer, put it this way: “You get to choose what’s right for you and what you enjoy eating and cooking.”

University of Delaware, BA in English 

Jenna Portnoy is the local health reporter for The Washington Post. She previously covered members of Congress from the greater Washington region and worked in the Richmond bureau. Before joining The Post, she worked for the Newark Star-Ledger in her home state, as well as the Allentown Morning Call and Philadelphia City Paper. 

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Capital Area Food Bank and health clinics expand food pharmacies

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