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Free Clinic of Culpeper patients will benefit from year-round convenient access to healthy food, thanks to the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank’s Food Pharmacy program. The Food Pharmacy increases access to nutritious food, which can help prevent and manage diet-related diseases such as diabetes and heart disease. By becoming a partner site in the Food Pharmacy program, the Free Clinic is reducing the primary challenges faced by patients seeking fresh food: cost and accessibility.

Through the Food Pharmacy program, the Free Clinic will place a monthly order for a variety of fresh foods and shelf-stable foods. Selected foods will be nutritious, with an emphasis on low sodium, no added sugar and whole grain items. These items will be stocked in the clinic’s onsite Food Pharmacy, providing convenient access to patients. The program is tailored to the clinic population’s needs and will complement nutrition education provided at the clinic as part of patient care. The clinic also provides recipes and samples of foods that patients may have never tried or may not be used to eating.

Food Pharmacy supports better health for patients with chronic illness

“Many of our patients have chronic illnesses such as high blood pressure, diabetes and high cholesterol. All of these conditions can show improvement when fresh foods are incorporated into the diet,” says clinic director Tammy LaGraffe. “We’re delighted to have the Food Pharmacy program available as a year-round resource for our patients.” In 2023, the clinic supported the health needs of nearly 600 patients, according to LaGraffe.

The clinic receives seasonal fresh produce from several local organizations, said LaGraffe. These include the Minority & Veteran Farmers of the Piedmont, the Virginia Cooperative Extension and the Carver Food Enterprise, as well as the Mid-Atlantic Food Resilience Access Coalition. The Culpeper Mid Day Lions Club made a donation to help address diabetes. That donation supported the purchase of cookbooks and other education materials as well as cold storage units, according to LaGraffe.

Eagle Scout candidate contributes to Food Pharmacy set up

Finding appropriate space was key to the clinic becoming a Food Pharmacy site, observes LaGraffe. With the help of a local Eagle Scout candidate, Evan Lennox, the clinic’s conference room was transformed into a pantry with sturdy shelving and a refrigerator. “Not only was Evan’s project proposal approved by Scout leaders, but the Scouts covered much of the cost. Also, Evan received a discount for materials at Lowe’s. Evan and a team of scouts assembled the shelving and got the room ready to go,” said LaGraffe.

Eagle Scout candidate Evan Lennox & Clinic director Tammy LaGraffe in the newly set-up Food Pharmacy