As National Nutrition Month came to a close, Project Open Hand welcomed healthcare and community-based referring providers to our new Community Nutrition Program site, Ruth's Kitchen Table, for a guided tour and meet-and-greet at our 730 Polk Street location.
The tour was an opportunity to thank the providers who help connect their patients and clients to our services, and show the role of medically tailored meals and groceries as essential healthcare.
Nutrition, when thoughtfully integrated into a patient's care, improves health outcomes, strengthens their self-management, and reduces barriers to long-term wellness.
Integrating Nutrition Into Coordinated Care
Each year, Project Open Hand serves over a million medically tailored meals to over sixteen thousand people. But our model goes beyond meals and groceries. Grounded in whole-person care, Project Open Hand strives to delivers coordinated, comprehensive nutrition care that helps people build the confidence and resources they need to manage their health – and thrive.
Nutrition should not be an afterthought in care. That's why we partner closely with healthcare providers to ensure that it becomes an integrated part of treatment for a client's health condition.
Our approach includes:
- Equity-focused outreach and referrals
- Accessible enrollment and intake
- Comprehensive nutrition assessments
- Tailored nutrition interventions, which include education and counseling, coordinating care, and medically tailored meals and groceries
- Structured monitoring and care transitions
Together, these activities link a client's nutrition care directly to their clinical goals, which means more control over and better engagement in their own health.
Improved Health Outcomes Through Nutrition
Our coordinated approach leads to measurable outcomes for the people we serve. Recent client survey data underscores the results of this important work: when nutrition is integrated into care, health improves.
In a recent client survey, 87% of respondents rated Project Open Hand meals and groceries as good, very good, or excellent – and 82% of respondents reported that our services helped them better adhere to their medical team’s dietary recommendations.
Here is some particularly powerful feedback we received from clients in our most recent survey (minor edits for clarity):
- “When I first found Project Open Hand in August 2024, I was not expecting to see 2025. Today, I’m closer to not needing insulin, and looking forward to a long and healthy lifestyle for years to come.”
- “The best thing that ever happened to me was getting help from Project Open Hand.”
- “Project Open Hand helps relieve stress. I don’t have to worry about preparing meals or shopping after my cancer treatments.”
Clients also reported concrete health benefits linked to ongoing access to medically tailored nutrition, including more balanced diets, improved energy levels, better blood sugar management, weight management aligned with health goals, and improved cholesterol control. Nearly all respondents shared that participating in our programs reduced the stress and worry of accessing healthy food, which is an essential foundation for effective self-management.
For healthcare providers, it means a stronger continuity of care. And for our clients, it means better health, dignity, and stability during some of the most vulnerable moments of their lives.
RDs and Strong Partnerships Essential to Advancing Food Is Medicine
Nutrition counseling, assessment, and monitoring are all essential components of effective healthcare, especially for individuals managing complex health conditions with limited resources.
In recognition of this, Project Open Hand has grown its clinical nutrition team over the last decade from one dietitian to eight!
This work is only possible because our on-staff experts and their work with referring providers to ensure that our care continues to be responsive, evidence-based, and tailored to the individual needs of each client. We are incredibly grateful to our referring providers for their trust and collaboration.
By working together, we will keep building a system where food is recognized as the life-sustaining healthcare intervention that it is.