How Connecticut Children’s is Combatting Food Insecurity

In addition to produce vouchers, SCOR has also worked to integrate universal food insecurity screening into patient visits and our electronic health record system. In doing so, a frightening picture was uncovered. In our Hartford Primary Care Clinic, 65% of patients screened as food insecure. In families coming to our Emergency Department (ED), the rate was 40%. Nearly 300 families are identified as food insecure every month in the ED.

Primary care clinics and the ED are high-volume settings that allow SCOR to screen thousands of patients every year. But that still leaves unscreened the many patients and families who come through other departments at Connecticut Children’s.

Thanks to a generous $200,000 grant from the Stop & Shop Family Foundation, SCOR will now be able to extend universal screening and food voucher distribution to other divisions at Connecticut Children’s. The grant also will help fund the addition of digital vouchers to the current paper voucher system. Digital vouchers offer flexibility and accessibility to families and will help SCOR maximize resources.

June is Hunger Awareness Month, but food insecurity is a year-round problem for too many children. With the support of community partners like Stop & Shop, Connecticut Children’s is identifying more families in need and getting children the nutritious food necessary for a healthy childhood—and a healthy future.