Volunteer Jeanette Carter packs containers of food in Food Outreach’s industrial kitchen.
Volunteer Jeanette Carter packs containers of food in Food Outreach’s industrial kitchen.
Jefferson County residents struggling with nutrition insecurity issues and uncontrolled Type 2 diabetes may be eligible for a new program to help ease their burden.
Food Outreach of St. Louis and the Mercy hospital system have established a pilot program to provide medically tailored meals and nutrition counseling to qualified diabetic patients.
Food Outreach, which provides meal delivery and nutrition counseling for patients who have been diagnosed with cancer, HIV and uncontrolled diabetes, will provide the service to clients who live in Jefferson, St. Louis and St. Charles counties and in St. Louis.
The program will be capped at 100 clients.
To qualify, patients need to be referred to the program by a Mercy doctor, have an individual income of $40,770 a year or less and have been diagnosed with uncontrolled Type 2 diabetes, which means their blood-sugar level is eight or greater at the time of intake, according to a written statement released by Food Outreach announcing the new program.
Justin Kralemann, Food Outreach senior director of development and strategic initiatives, said the program started in November, and as of Dec. 9, 14 clients were enrolled in the new program.
He also said no Jefferson County residents are currently enrolled in the program, but there are 16 Type 2 diabetes patients who receive food from the organization through a program developed by the VA Hospital of St. Louis and SSM Health.
“We are eager to enroll new clients into the Mercy pilot program as we know the need is there,” Kralemann said.
He said Food Outreach is able to provide this new service in Jefferson County because of a grant the organization received from the Jefferson Foundation.
In June, Food Outreach of St. Louis received $20,000 from the Jefferson Foundation during the organization’s first round of grants for 2022. The grant allowed Food Outreach to expand its food delivery service in the county.
“What is extraordinary is through our partnership with the Jefferson Foundation, we have been able to expand our services throughout the county,” he said. “We really weren’t very active in the county before partnering with the Jefferson Foundation.”
Kralemann said the organization is serving 51 Jefferson County residents. He said 26 of those clients are cancer patients, and nine have been diagnosed with HIV.
“When we started talking with Mercy about this pilot program and which geographic regions and counties we can serve, we included Jefferson County because we have established a network for the home-delivery program with routes going down there twice a month,” Kralemann said. “We were very excited to be able to include Jefferson County in this pilot program.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the most prevalent form of diabetes is Type 2, which affects 90 to 95 percent of people with the disease. Medically tailored meals and medical nutrition therapy are promising strategies for patient-centric diabetes care, the CDC said.
“A nutrient-rich diet is the cornerstone to maintaining optimal health and managing illness,” said Dr. Gretchen Shull, medical director for Diabetes Care across Mercy. “Medically tailored meals based on the diagnostic needs of our patients with uncontrolled Type 2 diabetes will help improve their overall well-being. By taking a proactive approach in working with Food Outreach, an organization with a proven track record of providing medically tailored meals and nutrition counseling for individuals with chronic illness, we are working to keep our patients healthier and out of the hospital.”
Kralemann said new programs typically take up to six months to reach capacity, but he believes this program will reach its 100-client threshold quickly.
“I will say Mercy has been referring quite a few patients to us, and I don’t think it will take six months to enroll 100 people into the program,” he said. “I think we will be pretty full within the first few months of next year.”
For more information about the program or to find out if you qualify for the service, call Food Outreach at 314-652-3663.