Revenue for St. Luke’s University Health Network (SLUHN) Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), which has more than 500 members and runs from June to October, has surpassed $1 million.

The CSA Program is open to Network employees, spouses and family members whose memberships support participating local farms. Fees collected are paid to the farmers.

“As the Network has grown, so has the CSA program,” says Amy E. Previato, MPH, CHES, DipACLM Network Director, SLUHN Employee Wellness, Department of Community Health and Preventive Medicine.

“Over the program’s seven years, it has gone from one farmer serving three locations to eight farmers serving 19 different sites each week. We are proud that in 2020, the program’s all-time revenue has surpassed $1 million dollars,” Previato said.

Weekly CSA deliveries are made to the 19 sites in the 20-week program (it runs for 12 weeks at St. Luke’s Miners Campus). Tables are set up at the sites. The members receive two weekly reminders to pick up their shares. The emails include farm newsletters and recipes.

“The CSA pickup is a good diversion from the stresses of the day for the members,” said Previato.

“They get excited to pick up their bags. We frequently hear feedback like, ‘This is my favorite day of the week.’ or ‘Every CSA day feels like Christmas.’ There is tremendous enthusiasm and camaraderie”

The SLUHN CSA Program identifies, interviews and partners with farmers who have the capacity to work within a CSA that’s part of a large health-care Network.

“We look for farmers who utilize organic growing practices, who are located near the campus or distribution site, and who have the capacity for growth in their business,” Previato said.

The program offers benefits to stakeholders.

“First, let’s talk about health,” said Previato. “According to the CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention], eating a diet rich in fruits and vegetables daily can help reduce the risk of many leading causes of illness and death, including heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, some cancers, and obesity.”

The St. Luke’s Employee Wellness Program includes an annual health assessment that asks employees about their lifestyles, including nutrition, physical activity, sleep and stress management.

“We use the data to design programs that help our employees and their families maintain and improve their health,” Previato said.

“One thing we’ve learned is that we have the opportunity to help our employees increase the number of fruits and vegetables they eat. The CSA program promotes convenient access to fresh, local produce each week, making it easy for our employees to make healthy choices.”

Secondly, farmers benefit from the Network’s support of the local food economy.

“All money generated from the purchase of produce shares is passed directly into the pockets of the local farmers,” said Previato.

“The St. Luke’s Rodale Institute Organic Farm provides CSA shares for the program, in addition to distributing organic produce to all of the SLUHN cafeterias for use in the preparation of patient meals and cafeteria meals served to employees and the community.”

The SLUHN CSA Program has partnerships with soup kitchens and food pantries in the communities near each distribution site so that unclaimed shares of fruits and vegetables are donated each week.

“This grants food access to some of our neediest and food insecure community members,” Previato said.

The SLUHN CSA program is led by a team of health educators, several of whom are Board-Certified in Lifestyle Medicine.

“Our department helps employees maintain and improve their health and health behaviors, and creates and fosters a culture of health within the organization,” said Previato.

“We have seen positive trends in the health risks in our population. We now meet or exceed seven Healthy People 2020 goals, including high blood pressure, high cholesterol, poorly controlled diabetes, and tobacco use.

“In addition, we have also seen tremendous buy-in from staff, and interest from new employees and medical residents. We enjoy supporting our members through the growing season, sharing recipes and ways to preserve veggies for the winter. And we love that they support the program, the farmers and their community,” said Previato.

Information: https://www.slhn.org/wellnow/nutrition/farm-produce