A patient can leave the hospital with a treatment plan and still face an immediate problem at home: no food that fits their circumstances. Nourishing Hope's Health & Hope program works with Endeavor Health Swedish Hospital to address that transition by providing groceries and information about continuing support.
The hospital's food access program began in 2020 with funding from the Swedish Hospital Foundation. It grew from work identifying a connection between food insecurity and health needs in the community. Nourishing Hope is one of the partners helping the hospital put food access into a patient's discharge process.
Two food bags for different situations
The program offers a ready-to-eat bag for someone who cannot cook or does not have a kitchen, and a regular grocery bag for someone who can prepare meals. Both are designed around shelf-stable food because the bags are delivered to the hospital in advance and distributed when needed.
Nourishing Hope's account lists items such as canned vegetables, dried fruit, nuts, whole-wheat pasta, tomato sauce, and lower-sodium soups. The bag also includes information about social services. The contents are practical, but the distinction between the two bag types is the important design choice: a bag that requires a stove is little help to a patient without one.
How the bags connect to wider support
The hospital's Food Connections initiative extends beyond discharge bags. It includes on-site food cupboards, produce distribution through Veggies for Health, and an employee garden. Staff from nursing, social work, nutrition, and other teams help identify needs and connect patients with resources.
A food bag addresses the first days after discharge. Nourishing Hope's report describes staff also connecting patients with longer-term food resources and following up about what they need. That continuity is important because food insecurity rarely ends with one delivery.
What this partnership illustrates
The collaboration treats food access as part of a patient's circumstances, not an unrelated issue to set aside at the hospital door. Its scale and outcomes are not quantified in the source article, so this story is about how the program works. The next useful measure would be whether patients can maintain access to food after their initial bag.
Read Nourishing Hope's full account of the hospital partnership.
Check out more articles
Discover more breakthroughs from our initiatives.
