Improving Fruit and Vegetable Consumption Among Food Insecure Patients at Lighthouse Free Medical Clinic

Fresh vegetables.

This project seeks to increase the fruit and vegetable consumption among individuals with inadequate access to fresh produce and limited financial resources.

Project description

Lighthouse Free Medical Clinic and Fresh Fix, a Buffalo-based food box delivery company, are partnering to create an intervention that improves fruit and vegetable consumption in individuals who screen positive for food insecurity while being seen at Lighthouse. Undergraduate students will assist in this mission by delivering food boxes filled with fresh, locally sourced produce directly to patients’ homes. By delivering food boxes, this project aims to simultaneously overcome the burdens of time insecurity and limited access to fresh produce often encountered by individuals in our patient population. Students will partake in a training session prior to delivering boxes as well as monthly seminar sessions facilitated by medical students that will be held at the Jacobs School of Medicine. Deliveries will occur on Wednesday afternoons and drivers will be expected to follow a buddy system where they will deliver boxes with one other student. Students are expected to commit to this elective for 1 semester; however, if interested, students may continue their involvement past this time frame.

Project outcome

Students will be expected to complete a summative PowerPoint presentation.  

Project details

Timing, eligibility and other details
Length of commitment About one semester
Start time September 
In-person, remote, or hybrid?
In-person
Level of collaboration Delivery with undergraduate partner. Reflections with public health and medical students; individual research
Benefits (I) Understand the scope of food insecurity in downtown Buffalo, (II) learn how medical, master’s of public health, social work, and nutrition students are working to address food insecurity at the student level, and (III) earn volunteer hours through Lighthouse Free Medical Clinic.
Who is eligible Sophomore, Junior, and Seniors 
Support Managers of Lighthouse Free Medical Clinic
Expectations
  • Orientation Session
  • Monthly seminars (2 hours)
  • Weekly and/or biweekly food box deliveries (dependent on patient need per week)
  • Final: summative PowerPoint

Core partners

  • Lighthouse Free Medical Clinic
  • Fresh Fix

Project mentor

Jessica Kruger

Clinical Assistant Professor

Community Health and Health Behavior

319 Kimball Hall

Phone: (716) 829-6748

Email: jskruger@buffalo.edu

Start the project

  1. Email the project mentor using the contact information above to express your interest and get approval to work on the project. (Here are helpful tips on how to contact a project mentor.)
  2. After you receive approval from the mentor to start this project, click the button to start the digital badge. (Learn more about ELN's digital badge options.) 

Preparation activities

The specific preparation activities for this project will be customized through discussions between you and your project mentor. Please be sure to ask them for the instructions to complete the required preparation activities.

  • To facilitate an understanding of food insecurity in Buffalo, students will be assigned readings from academic and nonacademic literature prior to their training. These readings will be discussed in their seminar sessions and will serve as a foundation to guide independent literature searches throughout the semester. Students will be expected to create and present a summative PowerPoint at the end of the course.
  • Students will be expected to attend an orientation session led by medical students and complete an online HIPAA certification course.

Keywords

Community Health and Health Behavior