Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:28] Speaker B: Hello and welcome to Just a Bite. My name is Eliza Richardson. I am the Nutrition Programs Coordinator here at the Ohio association of Food Banks and I am joining Sarah to co host this episode for the first time today. Today we're diving into an exciting partnership that brings together food banks and healthcare providers to address social determinants of health and improve health outcomes for our neighbors across Ohio. I am joined by two incredible guests, Taylor Major, Dame with the HAPCAP Health Market and Training Hub, and Angela Weaver at the Ohio association of Health Plans.
[00:01:02] Speaker A: Together we will explore the role of food banks in the Food is Medicine movement, the impact of a new choice pantry in Southeast Ohio, and how managed care organizations and food banks are working hand in hand to create healthier communities. This is a conversation about collaboration, innovation and the power of partnerships to make a difference. Let's get started.
[00:01:35] Speaker B: Hello Angela and Taylor, welcome to Just a Bite and thank you so much for being here with us today.
[00:01:41] Speaker C: Thank you.
[00:01:42] Speaker D: Thank you. Of course.
[00:01:44] Speaker B: We're really looking forward to today's conversation concerning work being done in the health and hunger space. I am sitting down with two incredible people who are working directly on this matter day in and day out and they have recently partnered together to bring some new opportunities to our neighbors in the southern part of Ohio. With me today is Taylor Major, Dame Coordinator for the HAPCAP Health Market and Training Hub, and Angela Weaver, Director of Regulatory affairs at the Ohio association of Health Plans. I'd like to give them a chance to introduce themselves so Angela will start with you.
[00:02:15] Speaker C: Hello, I'm Angela Weaver, the Director of Regulatory affairs for the Ohio association of Health Plans. I've been with OEHP now for 11 years. Prior to that I did work at the Ohio Department of Medicaid and in the state legislature. So state house stuff has been my full time career. A little bit about me. I am a mom of an 11 year old girl so that has been fun with a preteen. My husband and I and my daughter, we really like being outside and have lots of fun trips planned for national parks next year.
[00:02:47] Speaker D: Great.
[00:02:47] Speaker C: That's awesome.
[00:02:48] Speaker B: Thank you so much. Angela Taylor, can you introduce yourself to the listeners?
[00:02:52] Speaker D: My name is Taylor Major Dame and I am the Food Access and Workforce Development Coordinator for hapcap. I work at the market with hapcap. I've held this position since mid April of this year but I've been with HAPCAP for over a year. I originally started in finance and Admin, wasn't really my jam and switched over to direct service. So I've lived in Athens county for over 13 years now on and off. It's my home. I love it and I love being able to give back to my community and also just being directly impacted by food insecurity. So something like this is really important to me. So. And this is awesome.
[00:03:36] Speaker B: That's great. Thank you both for the introductions. I wanted to chat with each of you separately to learn more about your respected organizations and what programs and services you offer with a focus on health related initiatives. I think this will help level set for the listeners the work that is being done separately by these two incredible entities and then we can spend some time here in a bit chatting about the partnership and choice pantry you guys just open in collaboration with. That being said, I'll start with Taylor. Can you level set with me and the listeners on what services and programs are offered through the Southeast Ohio Food bank and Kitchen?
[00:04:12] Speaker D: So I'm sure I'm going to miss a couple because we have a lot but we work with child nutrition, senior nutrition dude food boxes, which is CSFP or USDA foods. And then we also have a Meals on Wheels program where folks can actually get their CSFP boxes delivered to them as well as a couple meals a week which is put together by our lovely kitchen workers. And then we also have child nutrition. So we do summer meals. We have congregate dining sites. One of our biggest things is our warehouse delivers food to other pantries in our region. Our food bank covers 10 counties. They're always out and about delivering food to our community and on top of that they help out with mobile distributions and mini mobiles. So we try to go to areas that might not have access to fresh produce as often as they would like. So we do like little pop up mobiles.
[00:05:11] Speaker B: That's great. Yeah. We know the Southeast Ohio Food bank does a lot of really great work in such a wide variety of areas. We know all too well at the food banks that food insecurity is often not the only presenting factor of poverty or hardship within the home. We typically see food insecurity closely related to people's housing, security, mental health status, intimate partner violence, relationships, health status and transportation issues, which is what we refer to as the social determinants of health. According to the cdc, social determinants of health are non medical factors that affect health outcomes. They include the conditions in which people are born, grow, work, live and age. Social determinants of health also include the broader forces and systems that shape everyday life conditions. One of the cool things about the Southeast Ohio Food bank and Kitchen is that it's just a small part of the overall work of their organization. HAPCAP does. Their website reads, HAPCAP has more than 30 programs designed to empower individuals and help them overcome the causes and conditions of poverty. These programs offer services for children and families, career development, transportation, community development, payment assistance, housing and health services. Taylor, can you educate me and the listeners on some other resources and programs that HAPCAP offers that neighbors may benefit from?
[00:06:31] Speaker D: So we have five divisions, as you had mentioned, but our first one is Child Development, Head Start, Early Head Start, Home Visits, and then our Housing and Community Development. They do weatherization, they do home repairs, and then Community Services, which is the division I'm technically a part of. We're trying to bridge the gap between our divisions, but they do the utility assistance, the energy assistance, and most importantly, the community resource navigation. Because yes, we have 30 programs and that can be a lot to navigate for someone. Right. And then transportation. I always like to throw this out, that the Go Bus is actually a part of hapcap, so if you see that around, that's ours. But they also help with Athens Public Transit and Logan Public Transit and then Microloans, which is something that I think a lot of food banks are kind of testing the water with, which provides either zero or very low interest loans to community members who already utilize our programs to kind of help flexibility with month to month expenses. And then all of these programs, our Community Resource Navigator is actually put into a binder. So we have two binders available at the market so people can like flip through through it before they are at their heap appointment or before they go shopping so that they know that they might qualify for these other programs.
[00:08:03] Speaker B: Thank you for chatting us through that, Angela. You just heard Taylor give a great rundown on all of the programs that they offer through HAPCAP and the Southeast Ohio Food Bank. Tell me more about the Ohio association of Health Plans and what services and programs you offer and how you fit into the larger healthcare and Medicaid network here in Ohio.
[00:08:21] Speaker C: Sure. So OHP, we represent 16 member plans. So all of the health insurance companies that operate in the state of Ohio, which includes the seven Medicaid managed care plans, which directly impacts the work that is being done through habcap. From the time that I started at OHP till now, what we do at OHP has vastly changed. We are historically and will always continue to be that policy advocacy entity for health insurers across the state with legislators and other state policymakers and stakeholders. But really since 2020 and during the pandemic, we really shifted to help our members do collective impact work in the Medicaid space. Specifically, whether that be during the pandemic. We really worked to collaborate with our plans to ensure folks still had access to food transportation. We were getting them to vaccine appointments when those became available. And since then it's really evolved into a lot of quality improvement work. But most recently with the implementation of the next generation Medicaid program, there's requirements called the Community Reinvestment program. So that requires the Medicaid managed care plans to reinvest a portion of their profits back into the communities they serve. And so that is what was used to help fund the market down in southeast Ohio. And what that really does is we really look and go to those communities and ask them, what do you need to help your community? What are those resources that you need some help with? It happened to be the food bank in pabcap, but we've done things like making playgrounds at some of the state parks handicap accessible to ensure that those kids that are visiting our state parks can enjoy them. We've partnered with a lot of school schools on their school based health centers. So really it's listening to those communities on what they need to help improve the lives of those individuals that we serve. So that's been kind of a really fun thing that we've gotten to do and transitioned since the beginning of my time with OEHP and something that will just continue to grow.
[00:10:27] Speaker B: Yeah, that's really great. We're really thrilled to see an increase of Food is Medicine work and partnerships here in the state of Ohio. Our esteemed colleagues over on the strategic initiatives team here at OAF have been working diligently over the past couple of years to engage our state food bank network in this work. And we're proud to say that all 12 of our food banks participate in some sort of food as medicine work. And more information will be linked in our show notes, if you're interested. With that being said, having an expert here to ask, why are managed care organizations investing in this work and how does it tie into achieving better health outcomes?
[00:11:02] Speaker C: Sure. So as you were saying earlier, the social determinants of health really impact and kind of can almost show you what may occur in someone's life if those needs are not met. And so with food especially, that impacts a lot of health conditions. You're diabetic, you have heart disease, you have obesity, you're pregnant, you're, you know, small children without, you know, nutritious food. As a small kid that can lead to many different health outcomes. So having that access to healthy, nutritious food, it avoids a hospital admission for someone with diabetes. Potentially their diabetes gets too severe, amputations or other complications that come alongside that. So really taking it back to what are those most basic needs that we need to ensure folks are getting that will help them stay healthy? Food, housing that they have a safe place to be access to for their education and work to help ensure that they are more successful in life. So it's just taking it back to those basic needs because we all know that sitting around the table, if we're hungry going into work, we're going to have a bad day. Same with those kids going to school. If they're hungry at school, they're not learning and then that's just worse outcomes. Not only health outcomes, but their academic and future life outcomes.
[00:12:20] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. And it's kind of like this cycle that continues to replicate in communities across the country. And all of our organizations are continuing to try and help combat that not just food insecurity. So we really appreciate that. Speaking of all 12 of our food banks being engaged in this work in some way, Taylor, can you talk us through the Food as Medicine work that is being done at the Southeast Ohio Food bank and kitchen? I know your focus is on the food prescription boxes and food management and delivery for expecting parents. Can you talk more about these food programs and how they are addressing household health issues?
[00:12:54] Speaker D: As Angela mentioned, the community Reinvestment fund not only helps the market itself, but it also Food as Medicine doula program and also a school based pantry in Amesville Elementary. So it's not just us, right, that it's impacting. It's a lot of different community organizations. But specifically for the Food as Medicine program, I work closely with our health and equity team. Julie Gladney, she's the coordinator for that program and her and her team of community health workers work with neighbors during pregnancy and six months postpartum. A lot of the neighbors in our region, as I kind of mentioned before, they reside in food deserts. So our community health workers will deliver specially designed nutritious food boxes and pair them with like comprehensive case management. All of this stuff is intertwined with one another to ensure a healthy and safe pregnancy. So on my end of things, I get to help provide the food.
So we're really trying to keep more of like fresh produce on hand so that our community health workers can actually come in and shop with our neighbors and just kind of help bridge that gap. And also with transportation, you know, a Lot of people can't make the trip out to the pantry. So having proxies for our clients and for our neighbors is really important. And I think one of our community health workers, she's a proxy for every single one of her clients now, so that's like really beneficial to them in the long run. And our Food Rx program, which is kind of what we call it on our end, it works with the local healthcare systems and it basically screens neighbors when they go to their health provider for food insecurity and they can get an extra trip to the food pantry. So that access really helps alleviate some of the financial pressure, nutrition pressure and all of that. And then this also allows like for neighbors to be selective with the items that they pick so that they can meet their nutritional guidelines, so that they can do low sodium, low sugar, what have you.
[00:15:15] Speaker B: And on top of all those programs, you now have an on site choice pantry, which was made possible by the Ohio association of Health Plans. And some of our staff had the privilege of attending the grand opening. And we just want to congratulate you both on this amazing project in this pantry. It's beautiful and it's amazing and we are so excited about it. Taylor, can you walk us through your choice pantry kind of verbally to paint a picture for the listeners, for their neighbors on what they can expect their experience to look like? I'd also love it if you can talk more about the importance of choice at the food banks and food pantries.
[00:15:47] Speaker D: I love talking about the market, so this is always fun for me. So when neighbors first arrive, they get to see our lovely clerk Kelsey. They'll check in with her and we track everyone through pantrytrack. It's just a really simple verification process for income guidelines. If it's their first time there, we'll kind of walk them through the process us because you know, a lot of folks are used to just getting food boxes, not actually shopping, right? So it's set up just like a grocery store. You grab your cart, you walk through the aisles, you pick what food you want. We have two refrigerators and two freezers. We try to keep them as stocked as much as we can, but that can be difficult. And we have six carts available and that's kind of how it like self regulates itself with neighbors shopping. So if we're at capacity in the market, we have a waiting room, which is our care source community room. And then folks can peruse the resource table and do all of that while they're waiting for their turn. And then we always have Market associates on hand to answer any questions they might have about the food, them bag up their items, take their items out to their car. So it's really nice to be able to see people shop. A lot of folks don't get out as much as like, you and I might. So there's social interaction. They get to talk to people that they might not have seen in a while. So it really does have like a sense of community in that space. So once they are done shopping, they can come back every two weeks or as needed for emergency purpose. But they also have access to like our heap office. They have access to, to, we call it the neighborhood nook. And that's where they can do private telehealth appointments. So they have access to reliable WI fi. They have access to a printer and to a phone. We're slowly working to a true hub of resources.
[00:17:44] Speaker B: Yeah, that's great. And it's really great that you can provide all of those services all in one space. And especially with the importance of choice at the pantry, it's really great that neighbors can come there and have an option to choose what they want while getting all of those wraparound services.
[00:17:58] Speaker A: Building off of your point, I think that that's what's really unique about HABCAP in a lot of ways is because you're a community action agency, you are able to provide more resources than even like our food banks can provide who are also doing that work of, you know, making sure that there's a suite of options for people to choose from. I wanted to ask you to talk a little bit more about proxies and maybe why that's important in terms of, especially where you all are located in a rural area. Maybe why with chronic health conditions or something like that would maybe need proxies more often than, you know, the general population.
[00:18:39] Speaker D: So our proxy program, someone can come in and shop for you. They just have to provide their id and we have a form that people have to fill out that gives them permission to do it. But you know, transportation is an issue for a lot of people, but I think rural areas are significantly more impacted because, because, you know, you're living down in the hall or. And you might not see someone for like a month. Right. So those folks that do have chronic health conditions who do, you know, have limited transportation, they network within their community to get rights to grocery stores, to get rights to the pantry, to utilize Logan public transit or Athen public transit. But sometimes that's not feasible. So having your case manager or your community health worker able to Kind of do that. Comprehensive case management in one step is so important. Your time is valuable. There's other things that you probably want to do. You don't want to, like, have to make multiple trips a month to different areas. So being able to knock that out at once is really important for me to provide that to our neighbors.
[00:19:55] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. And as we talked about earlier, transportation is one of those social determinants of health. So we see rural communities are especially under risk to experience those with that lack of transportation. So providing the access to a proxy shopper or public transportation is really crucial into tackling that aspect.
[00:20:13] Speaker D: I wanted to speak on, like, the choice aspect visa. That is like a conversation that we even have with like our healthcare options and all of that. But the power of choice, it's really tangible when you're speaking to neighbors. People are prideful, and that is totally fine. I was that person. Like, I wish I would have known about HAPCAP when I was struggling. I wish I would have known about food programs, know much about it. So when they come to the market, it kind of brings a sense of like, normalcy to the extent experience. Right. And we want our neighbors to be as comfortable as possible. And giving them that power of choice to explore our programs, to pick their food, to do whatever they want will allow them to feel more comfortable to come to us if they are in crisis, because that's who we want to be. Right. And then also, I never want to see them again because we help them out of that crisis. Right. So it's just like one of the. So just that sense of community and building that trust. Because Appalachia is one of those places where people come in, they come out, and it's just a back and forth. So that trust factor is really important to us because their trust has been broken so often.
[00:21:30] Speaker A: Yeah, well said.
[00:21:32] Speaker B: That's a really great point. Yeah, absolutely. Angela, what was the experience like partnering with the Southeast Ohio Food Banking Kitchen on this project? And why did the Ohio association of Health Plans make the investment in the work to end hunger? How is this work going to lead to better health outcomes overall across the state of Ohio?
[00:21:50] Speaker C: Sure. So it was a really easy decision to provide some of this funding to make this possible. Like Taylor was saying, HABCAP is just a trusted resource in that community already, and it has been forever. So it's just natural that we want to ensure that they're able to continue to have that trust of the members that we duly serve. Especially when the idea of the market and that choice aspect that you were just talking about Taylor when our health Equity directors and CEOs were reviewing these projects. That was something like that's amazing. In the Medicaid space sometimes there's not much choice that you do get in a lot of things. And so for those folks to be able to go in there and take their time and look at the different produce and options that are available to them and really pick what they know that they will eat and that they enjoy to eat or cook for their family, I mean that's an amazing thing to offer these individuals. And so that was just, you know, it was just kind of really easy to do because when they go in to the market, like Taylor was saying, they have the ability to connect into all of these other resources that we as managed care plans and our care managers attempt to do. But it's not unlike any of us, you know, you don't think to go to your health insurance company for, for some of these programs. While even many of our commercial plans also offer help and connection into some of these social determinants health thing, you just don't think to do that. But you know, HAPCAP is there for you and that they offer these. And so it's easy for then HAPCAP caseworkers to connect with our caseworkers and say hey so and so came in today. You know they're interested in home visiting. Let's work together, let's ensure that they're getting this. And just being able to connect those resources and be a one stop shop for those folks is just, it's just great. And I loved being down there for the ribbon cutting. I mean it is such a beautiful facility. And you know with the food there, there's recipe cards if they need help, there's potential for workforce and working there in the warehouse. So there's just so much that they can experience and get out of just that one time need that you know, can help them continuously down the road.
[00:24:00] Speaker D: Our workforce development program is really to kind of help build those soft and hard skills skills and work on the economic mobility that Feeding America really wants to see, folks, specifically food banks, obviously to really integrate into their programs in the workforce development side of it. We're hoping to have our first cohort of forklift certification towards the end of January. And that's where we get some of our comprehensive case management employment program participants or CCMP participants certified through OSHA's forklift certification process. So it's just like little stepping stones. But yeah, the workforce development side of it, more to come on that. And yeah, we're really excited to see where that goes. So that's great.
[00:24:50] Speaker A: That's amazing. Yeah, I love doing this podcast because I get to hear about the really exciting things coming down the pike. So that's awesome. I know that we talked about this a little bit throughout the whole episode, but I'm curious to know and interested to hearing from either or both of you your thoughts on why you believe food banks and community partners are uniquely positioned to be key partners in the food is medicine work, especially compared to for profit meal vendors.
[00:25:22] Speaker C: I think it's like we've been saying this whole time, the food banks are integrated in the communities and have been for many, many years. And these families that are experiencing using the food banks often just by sadly the nature of poverty, they've been using these resources for many generations. And so it's, it's a comfortable, it is a trusted place for them to go. Whereas like Taylor was saying, some of these other entities come in and out of communities quite frequently. And so they're not that trusted resource. And they may have, you know, been set up to provide services, but then left that community for one reason or another. But the food banks are always there.
[00:26:03] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yeah. I think that trust is something that we always come back to as food banks and as like leaders in the community. I think it's really important and it's a lot of responsibility. I will admit that as well.
But I think it's really important.
Taylor, I'm curious. I know that you just had the grand opening of the market, but I know that you've been having kind of like a soft opening for a couple months and curious to know, like, what are the neighbors saying about this resource? I know that you talked about it a little bit, but I would love to hear more about, you know, what are the community members saying about that?
[00:26:46] Speaker D: Yeah. So our first day open was September 23rd. We've had like consistent weeks leading up to November. Honestly, it's been overwhelmingly positive. I didn't cry the first day we opened because everyone was just really excited to shop. You know, there was some apprehension, right, Because a lot of folks were used to just coming to the food bank, picking up their box and leaving. Right. That's fair routine. I understand the importance of it, but I only heard that the first week that we were open. So that feeling has shifted into like, oh, now I don't have to get like a can of green beans every time I come, right? They're like, well, I can't eat X, Y, And Z. But guess what? Now they have A, B and C. Right. So it's just like that access and the ease of the process, it's just, it's opened a lot of doors and they've recognized that we do have like, some surveys that have been filled out because I want to know what gaps can we fill in our services. And it's just been very satisfied down the. And I'm like, but there has to be something else you need.
But no, it's been, I, I tear up, like, thinking about it, because it really has already made an impact to our community, like, pretty significant. Significantly. We've served over unduplicated 560 households.
[00:28:18] Speaker C: Wow.
[00:28:19] Speaker D: It's been incredible.
[00:28:21] Speaker A: So, yeah, that, that is awesome. I, I think it's also important, like, with you mentioning, like, oh, people were so used to driving in their car to a food bank distribution and having some. Someone put, you know, things in their car. And I think that's a really important point, that the pandemic changed a lot of things, including how we distribute food. And I'm really excited to hear, you know, we're going back to that choice part. And, you know, although it's a change of routine, it seems like people are really enjoying that piece. So I'm excited to hear that. Angela, I am just curious, you know, you've been in this work for over a decade now, and, you know, going to my point about the pandemic, I'm sure you've seen so many shifts and changes over the years, and I'm just curious to know, you know, what trends or changes do you anticipate seeing in the next decade? And, you know, really how has the landscape changed, you know, over the years that you have been working in this field?
[00:29:23] Speaker C: Yeah, so when I first started at OeHP, my role really focused on advocacy with the legislature and the state agencies like the Department of Medicaid, the Department of Insurance, the Governor's office on policy changes, rule changes, legislation. And, you know, while our members, we would meet collectively, it was always just those items that we discussed. Where can we impact policy change? But really during the pandemic and during the Governor DeWine administration, when he came in and when Director Corcoran came in, their vision for Medicaid really changed to focus in on the individual and the collective impact work that the managed care plans can do as a whole and not as individual plans. And so during the pandemic, we really started to focus and have weekly meetings about what can we do collectively to ensure our members are still Getting the things that they need, you know, is united, helping provide transportation and connecting. You know, it's a Molina member, but they're still helping make that connection to ensure that transportation is getting done and really working collectively. I mean, during the pandemic, our CEOs really took the helm of ensuring this collective impact work, which, you know, usually that's done by the quality directors, the medical directors, but they really took that leadership collectively to ensure that we're meeting the requirements and the goals that the department had for us. And so today, a lot of our work, we're partnering. You know, a medical director from one plan is partnering with the CEO and a quality director from other plans. So it's not just individual anymore, it is that collective impact work. And so that is just vastly different. That did not happen when I first started. And that is just going to continue to grow. You know, it's occurring today in the Next Generation managed care program in 2026. The Next Generation MyCare Ohio program, which is serving those individuals who are duly eligible for Medicare and Medicaid. That program's gonna go statewide by the end of 26. And so that will be in communities in Appalachia and other rural communities that it is not in today. And so those will be changes that will be coming. Along with that will come the community reinvestment within my care. So, you know, even more potential funding for our communities, more collective quality improvement work. We're just going to continue to see this. We're not competing on quality. We're going to ensure that our members are getting quality care and improving their health outcomes together. Because that's the only way we're going to move the needle on this work is if we work together.
[00:32:06] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. How do you anticipate the health plans and community partners kind of preparing for that shift and making sure that we are ready to make additional investments in the community and working together and being collaborative.
[00:32:22] Speaker C: Yeah, so a lot of that work has already begun. I sit on a number of working groups with folks from the food banks and other social determinant of health stakeholders and healthcare providers. Where we're looking at what are those policy changes that we can make to ensure that we are spreading those good models of care and those other policy areas that we can expand upon, whether it be more community health workers, whether it be more food is medicine programming, more housing programming. We've already started a lot of that work and a lot of that stakeholder building has been happening and is ready to go. It's really just now taking it that Next step further and getting our state partners alongside us. Because as much as we would love to as stakeholders be able to put forth the ideas that we have, but without the Department of Medicaid submitting things like an 1115 waiver so that we can reimburse for some of these services that we can't today, or making changes to our state plan amendment so that we can reimburse for things and have that steady stream of funding. Whereas, you know, the community reinvestment is a really great program, but because it is tied to what planned profit is in a year, that bucket is going to greatly change depending on the years. So it's not necessarily a steady source of funding because it's also largely just a one time funding source. Whereas if we can get policy change to reimburse for a lot of these services, that is just ongoing and we'll continue to ensure that those programs are there in the community in many years to come. And so really I think we're shifting to putting together those policy recommendations to present to our state partners and really get everyone on board because I think there's been just such a great groundswell of all the stakeholders coming together over the last year in preparation and I think we're all ready to go and I'm excited to see it continue to grow.
[00:34:16] Speaker A: Yeah, no, that's really exciting.
[00:34:18] Speaker B: Just to add another point in there, I think that's like a really great point that you made, almost working from like a grassroots ground up sort of initiative, like partnering between this partnership between the Choice Pantry and the Ohio association of Health Plans. You know, this partnership showing that it actually works. And this is why community organizations and state associations should partner together. And then bringing that to the Department of Medicaid saying these initiatives and these partnerships truly work. This is why you should support it long term and give funding for it long term.
[00:34:48] Speaker C: Yeah, and that's exactly what we've been talking about within these stakeholder working groups is there's so much of this already going on that we already have the proof that this works and it makes impact. It's not dissimilar to what was done to get doulas reimbursed under Medicaid. You know, that was happening and we knew that doulas provided a great benefit for our members. Like, you know, let's keep this going, let's ensure that they're still there and able to provide that care. There's just so many great things going on that we've got it. Let's just make it bigger and let's get it statewide.
[00:35:21] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. You touched on this a little bit in that answer, which was so great. But I'm curious, what is kind of your argument or why should state and federal governments really invest in this sort of work and why is their investment so needed? Because, you know, we can't do it alone. And honestly, the state and federal government also have an interest in making sure that their citizens are healthy.
[00:35:49] Speaker B: So.
[00:35:49] Speaker C: Right, right. The easy answer to that is without them, we can't have this be sustainable. And we need those policy changes at a statewide level to, you know, right now we're doing some piloting of programming and we're able to fund things one off. But to ensure that we've got that stability, we need those policy changes from the state and federal government. When we're talking to the legislature, it's really talking to them about why is investing in housing and food and those other social determinants of health, why is that going to help them meet the other goals that they have for Ohioans? So we know that they want a healthy workforce. We know that they want everyone to live up to the potential that they can as humans and Ohioans. And so if we're able to set folks off from the day that they are born with access to home visiting, prenatal care for those moms, steady housing, access to nutritious food, they're going to school not hungry. They're able to learn the impact by providing these services to individuals. You know, make sure that we have a workforce into the future that kids are paying attention and able to graduate from school. There's just so many long term impacts to providing simple things like just simple nutritious food for folks that it's such an easy fix that will help us combat so many other things and ensure that we are successful as a state down the road.
[00:37:12] Speaker A: Absolutely. So well said.
We are wrapping up our episode here. We always try to leave on a high note.
So Taylor, I am curious, you know, what inspires you to stay engaged in this work and what are you most excited about for the future in terms of food respons, medicine?
[00:37:32] Speaker D: I always like to joke that I want to be out of a job one day.
I really do. That's my ultimate goal. Right. But what inspires me is just the Appalachian people in general. Their heart, their work ethic and their deep commitment to their family and to their community is just awe inspiring. Yeah, I'm like getting emotional just because it like helped shape me.
I moved around a lot when I was younger. I was a part of the foster care system. I was food insecure. I've been homeless. I've been through a lot of these issues. Right. And to be able to be in a position where I can help people get out of that is so important to me. Because now I'm at a space where I'm comfortable enough that I can do this. And who knows, like the person that we're helping today will have my job one day or have Angela's job one day who can bring a fresh perspective to policymaking, to advocacy.
So I think that's what really pushes me is to show people it's possible to make change, even if it is just at your local level. That's so important. Just being able to create that resource hub, it's just, it's really important. And then for the future also I'm excited hopefully about the extension of the farm bill and making sure. Because Appalachia has such a rich history in agriculture as a whole. And the local food purchase agreement is something that we really rely on just to help support local producers, but also to connect our community members to like rural actions produce veggie van or like Chester Hill produce auction. All of these awesome little niche things that community members might not know about.
[00:39:29] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. We didn't get to talk about LFPA in this conversation, but there's so many connections between that and food is medicine. So I'm glad that you mentioned it. Awesome. Well, Angela, what about you?
[00:39:43] Speaker C: Yeah, so the transition of what I do at OHP has rejuvenated the love for what I do. I mean, I love the work I'm doing now through community reinvestment and the collaborative quality work we're doing because we are very immediately seeing changes to folks lives. Like it's directly impacting people and making a change very quickly. It's great to see and it's good to know the good that our members are doing in communities. It's just something to look forward forward to every day. It's always something a little bit different, whether it be, you know, food as medicine, working on, how do we ensure that more moms and babies stay healthy and make it to their first birthday. It's, you know, how do we ensure that kids are getting access to just the primary care needs that they need and potentially within their schools. So that's all one stop. There's just so many different programs and it's something different every day that just makes it so like fun to wake up in the morning and log onto my computer to see what is that project we're gonna talk about today.
[00:40:51] Speaker A: Absolutely. And I feel like with policy, it seems sometimes so theoretical. So it's so. I'm sure it's so nice.
[00:40:57] Speaker C: Yeah, it's so nice that, you know, while I'm still doing all of that policy work, these other projects that I get to work on that are just so much fun. And, you know, policy, yes, it's gonna impact somebody's life, but it's not gonna impact them today or tomorrow. There's a lot that goes into policy implementation, but what we're doing through community reinvestment and the collective quality work that's directly impacting someone right now, and you can see it right now, which is amazing.
[00:41:25] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. Both are so needed. So I appreciate you doing that work. Well, that is all for us. I want to thank you both for your time today, and I really appreciate the work that you're doing and this partnership, I think, think it's really innovative, and I'm excited to see more to come. So thank you both.
[00:41:43] Speaker C: Thank you for having me.
[00:41:44] Speaker D: Yeah. Thank you. Thank you.
[00:41:55] Speaker B: That brings us to the end of this episode of Just a Bite. I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to Taylor and Angela for sharing their insights and experiences with us today.
[00:42:04] Speaker A: We've learned how programs like food prescription boxes, choice pantries, and managed care organization partnerships are transforming the way we address food insecurity and health disparities. Taylor and Angela reminded us that the challenges we face, whether hunger, health inequities, or poverty, are deeply interconnected, and it is only through collaboration that we can tackle them effectively.
[00:42:28] Speaker B: If you'd like to learn more about the programs we discussed or get involved in this work, check out the links in the show notes. Thank you for listening and don't forget to subscribe.
