Food insecurity is a pervasive social issue both nationally and in Oregon — and a child’s hospitalization often exacerbates food insecurity for families, potentially creating insecurity among those who haven’t experienced it before.
According to an Oregon Health & Science University-commissioned survey, during their time at OHSU Doernbecher Children’s Hospital, 59% of parents and caregivers of patients did not eat even though they were hungry, and 66% reported reducing food or skipping meals during their stay.
“There are many reasons parents and families might be food insecure, including stress, the cost of food and not wanting to leave their sick child’s bedside,” said Rebecca Jungbauer, Dr.PH., M.A., research data analyst and project manager at OHSU’s Pacific Northwest Evidence-Based Practice Center. “These issues remain when a child and family return home from the hospital, often to an empty fridge.”
The Nourish program at OHSU Doernbecher was developed in 2022 to address the hidden hunger of parents and caregivers while they are in the hospital with their children. Now the program’s new community partnership will address the longer-term food insecurity that affects many patients and their families.
The Food for Health Network was established this fall as a collaborative effort between Doernbecher’s Nourish team and the Portland Open Bible Community Pantry, or POBC, led by Betty Brown. POBC receives grant funding to coordinate and support a network of 10 food pantries in Multnomah, Clackamas and Washington counties to ensure that families going home from Doernbecher have access to healthy, culturally appropriate, fresh food to help them heal.
Using a digital platform developed by partners at Full, an app to find free resources, families with children in the hospital can order their groceries online and choose to pick them up at their preferred pantry location or have their order delivered directly to their home. To ensure equitable access, the platform offers a visual interface showing each type of food, and can be navigated in multiple languages and accommodate culturally specific food and dietary preferences.
“The goal of the Nourish program is to prevent hunger for caregivers during hospitalization, and destigmatize the experience of needing food resources,” Jungbauer said. “Now, with the support of the Food for Health Network, we are taking that goal one step further by identifying families experiencing food insecurity at home, and connecting them to community food resources that can ease their transition to outpatient care.”
‘Brightness within our system’
Trina Coffin praises the effort to help feed patient families both in and out of the hospital; she knows firsthand how essential that resource is. Coffin’s son endured a nearly two-week stay in the hospital following surgery in 2021, prior to the establishment of Nourish or the Food for Health Network. As a single mother having just moved to Oregon from out of state, it was incredibly difficult managing a sudden, extended hospital stay while also caring for her four other children. Keeping herself fed was a challenge.
“It was very difficult because I lived nearly 30 miles away from the hospital and didn’t have a vehicle,” Coffin recalled. “I wasn’t eating enough so I was shaking, weak and fatigued. The staff offered to help, but I was too scared, and it was hard for me to accept the help. I know now I shouldn’t have felt that way.”
Coffin is dedicated to giving back to others experiencing food insecurity, now working as a POBC employee coordinating the Food for Health Network. On some days, her tasks include deliveries of food to Doernbecher patients — a full-circle reminder of the importance of this work.
“To be able to provide for other parents facing food insecurity, I’ve really seen my prayer in action,” she said. “It’s like when you change a dull lightbulb and suddenly it’s so much brighter. I’ve now seen that brightness within our system.”
Helping to heal
OHSU’s Nourish team brings together expertise from various hospital specialties, including pediatrics, nursing, food and nutrition, clinical nutrition and research. The multidisciplinary team that leads Food for Health’s advocacy efforts at OHSU, including Jungbauer, Louise Vaz, M.D., M.P.H., Anna Garwood and Kim Dody, RN, has high hopes for the program’s continued impact in the community.
Looking ahead, the team and the partners at Food for Health hope to expand the program to include more food pantries across the state and in Southwest Washington, to ensure access among patients who reside outside the Portland-metro area. During the program’s first year, they will also focus on data collection to better understand the populations served and identify ways to optimize program offerings to meet patient needs.
“Being in the hospital with a sick child is one of the most stressful situations someone could go through in their life. To add hunger on top of that is compounding an already very difficult situation,” Garwood said. “The last thing patients and families should worry about is having their basic needs met.
“Solving this issue does not require an expensive or complicated intervention,” she continued, “yet it can have an incredible impact on a family, their experience in the hospital and in the weeks and months after as they heal.”
To support the Nourish program, visit the OHSU Foundation website. To designate your gift, select fund “Other Area” and search “DCH Family Food Pantry.” All donations go directly to the program to support the provision of fresh, healthy and culturally specific food to OHSU Doernbecher Children’s Hospital inpatient families.
Participating organizations in the Food for Health Network include Portland Adventist Community Services, Clackamas Service Center, Tualatin Food Pantry, SnowCap, Neighborhood House of Bread, Lift Urban Portland, Ester's Pantry, St. John's Food Share, and Bethlehem House of Bread.