PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Children's Hospital of Philadelphia is investing $300,000 in preventive care with two new grants through their "Healthier Together" program. The goal over the next two years is to keep kids healthy by focusing the social determinants beyond medical care.
"Think housing, trauma, food insecurity and poverty," said Alonzo South, senior director of community engagement at CHOP. He says this is part of a trend that takes an holistic approach to health.
With the help of community members, South said, they have chosen two organizations focused on food insecurity to receive grants.
The first is called Strengthening Community Food Sovereignty through Home Gardening and Trauma-Informed Resource Networks in West and Southwest Philadelphia.
"We're partnering with Bartram's Garden, Urban Tree Connection, Philadelphia Orchard Project — and really it's around how do we make sure the community has the skills, has the resources, for growing food," South said.
The other recipient is Home Plate + Food Bucks Rx: Empowering West Philadelphia Families to Tackle Hunger and Advance Food Justice.
"It helps families about food planning," South said, "how to prepare food, what is healthy food, how to develop healthy food habits and resilience."
Similar grants have been given previously, but these are by far the largest, South said.
The intent is to demonstrate the importance of prevention, and to show people how decisions they make and the communities they live in affect their health, South said.
"We have to help build the financial case for prevention. The stronger a case that we can make for that, the easier it is for us to demonstrate to payers why they should potentially reimburse for some of these services."
South says the hospital will gather information as they prepare research on how preventive care saves money and improves health outcomes.
"There will always be a need for hospitals, but what we are trying to avoid is unnecessary trips to the emergency department, unnecessary hospitalizations," he said.
"Health is so much more than the delivery of health care services within the walls of the hospital."
