Health Care Without Harm: Healthy Food Systems

Health Care Without Harm (HCWH) is working with hospitals to provide nutritionally improved food for patients, staff, visitors, and the general public, and to create food systems which are ecologically sound, economically viable, and socially responsible. HCWH has hosted three FoodMed conferences throughout the United States that were designed to help participants incorporate sustainable and nutritious food purchasing at their facilities, and learn cost effective strategies that meet the unique needs of healthcare.

The Ecology Center's Healthy Food in Health Care Coordinator is also recognized as the Michigan Regional Organizer for HCWH. The Coordinator's role is to bring Michigan hospital and health professionals' voice to this national work group, while also providing further support to the overall campaign.

Gary Cohen Founder & Co-Executive Director Health Care Without Harm

Getting Started

Many health care institutions have begun to adopt practices and policies to support a healthy food system. Healthy food means more than nutritional quality, it means understanding how and where food is raised, grown, processed, and distributed.

For more information, please contact Healthy Food in Health Care Coordinator at hillary@ecocenter.org or at 734-761-3186 ext. 127.

Here is a list to get you started:

1. Start a conversation about healthy food. Consider developing a “food team” that explores the food issue and identifies ways your institution can get involved.
2. Contract with a GPO, Distributor or Food Service Provider that Supports Healthy Food in Health Care. 
3. Implement purchasing policies for meat and poultry raised without non-therapeutic antibiotics.
4. Model Local, Nutritious, Sustainable Food at Conferences, Meetings and Workshops.
5. Buy milk produced without recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone. (rBGH, also know as rBST) is given to dairy cows to increase milk production.
6. Buy organic and other certified food.
7. Consider establishing an overarching food policy.
8. Buy from local producers.
9. Become a fast-food free zone. 
10. Limit use of vending machines and replace unhealthy snacks with healthy choices.
11. Host a farmers market on hospital grounds.
12. Create hospital gardens to grow fresh produce and flowers.
13. Compost, divert and reduce food waste.
14. Buy certified coffee.

Planning and Benchmarking Your Progress

Health Care Without Harm has also created a framework to organize your Healthy Food in Health Care (HFHC) work. The GGHC Food Service Credits have been designed to help you plan and organize your work, track your progress implementing sustainable initiatives, and quantify your sustainable work (i.e., dollars spent on local products or pounds of sustainable beef purchased).

The GGHC is a best practices guide for healthy and sustainable building design, construction, and operations for the healthcare industry. The operations section of the GGHC includes a Food Service section. The Food Service section includes eight credits to help you plan and track your HFHC work. You can earn between 1-3 points for each credit you complete for a maximum total of 20 points in this self-certifying program. For more information on the full GGHC, visit the GGHC website.

Other Helpful Links

• Michigan Green Health Care Committee
• Buying Local – Approved Food Sources (PDF) – Michigan Department of Agriculture local fact sheet for institutions
• Healthy Food, Healthy Hospitals, Healthy Communities (PDF) – Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy written report including Farm to Hospital case studies
• American Medical Association Passes Resolution Supporting Sustainable Food System (PDF) – Health Care Role in Prevention and Food-Related Health Emphasized
• Healthy Land, Healthy Food & Healthy Eaters (PDF) – Sustainable Food Systems: Opportunities for Dietitians