Food is Medicine: Connecting Health Care & Hunger Relief in Kansas

This week, members of Heartland Community Health Center’s team joined partners from across the state at the Food is Medicine Learning Collaborative in Topeka, hosted by the Sunflower Foundation and the Kansas Health Foundation. The event brought together healthcare and community organizations working toward a shared goal: using nutritious food as a key part of patient care.

The idea behind Food Is Medicine is simple. Access to healthy food can be as powerful as access to medication. Programs like medically tailored meals, produce prescriptions, and grocery support are helping people manage chronic conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure while improving overall well-being.

A Statewide Effort to End Hunger

The Learning Collaborative also connected this work to broader efforts to fight hunger across Kansas. The Kansas Health Foundation, one of the event hosts, developed the Blueprint for a Hunger-Free Kansas, a statewide plan focused on reducing food insecurity through collaboration, data sharing, and policy change.

The Blueprint provides a framework for healthcare providers, community partners, and policymakers to work together to make healthy food more accessible. It aligns perfectly with the Food Is Medicine movement, which puts that vision into action at the clinic and community level.

Heartland’s Role in Food Is Medicine

At Heartland, we are proud to contribute to this vision through programs like the Care Cupboard and our Food Is Medicine initiatives that link healthcare and nutrition support.

Early results from Heartland’s program show that healthy food interventions are making a real difference. Most patients saw improvements in blood sugar levels, and those with the highest A1c readings experienced the greatest reductions. Participants also reported eating more fruits and vegetables, averaging more than four servings a day, and saw meaningful drops in blood pressure.

Even more encouraging, patients shared that their food security significantly improved, meaning they were better able to access the nutritious food they need to stay healthy. These results highlight how powerful nutrition can be in preventing disease, improving health outcomes, and helping people lead fuller lives.

Looking Ahead

The Learning Collaborative reinforced what we see every day at Heartland: when patients have access to healthy food, their health improves.

By continuing to build partnerships and expand programs that address both medical and social needs, we can move one step closer to a hunger-free, healthier Kansas. Food is Medicine, and together, we are proving it works.

Food is Medicine at Heartland 

Food Is Medicine integrates nutrition support directly into patient care. The program combines access to healthy foods with education and clinical support to help patients better manage chronic conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure. Through its on-site Care Cupboard, Heartland provides patients and families with nutritious pantry items and fresh produce to help bridge food insecurity and support healthier lifestyles.

A key part of the program is Heartland’s clinical pharmacist, who collaborates with primary care providers to incorporate nutrition into whole-person treatment plans. The pharmacist also works closely with patients to optimize medication therapy and ensure that care plans align with their individual health needs.

Heartland’s Community Health Workers play an essential role in this work by connecting patients to nutrition resources and local services that address barriers to healthy food access. 

Heartland offers free Food Is Medicine classes each month, giving patients and community members a chance to learn simple, practical ways to support their health through nutrition. The next class will take place at Bluestem Wellness on Wednesday, November 12 at 5:30 p.m.. The class will be focused on supporting healthy habits with soup, led by Karen S. Lewis, Community Health Worker and Food Is Medicine Coach.