OAHP on the Just A Bite podcast: How tackling food insecurity can improve health outcomes
The work our plans do to reinvest in the communities they serve is improving lives, and we’re always excited for more people to know about it. So we were thrilled when our Angela Weaver joined the “Just A Bite” podcast, hosted by the Ohio Association of Foodbanks, to talk about the Food As Medicine movement and how food insecurity so often goes hand in hand with other social drivers of health such as transportation access, social isolation, housing insecurity and other challenges.
With fellow podcast guest Taylor Major-Dame of Hocking Athens Perry Community Action Program (HAPCAP), Angela and hosts Sarah Kuhns and Eliza Richardson focused on HAPCAP’s Southeast Ohio Foodbank & Regional Kitchen, especially the recent partnership between HAPCAP and OAHP’s member Medicaid managed care organizations (MCOs) to create the HAPCAP for Health Market. Opened last year, the market provides food pantry visitors with a choice-based shopping experience and also helps connect neighbors with services like the Home Energy Assistance Program and a “Neighborhood Nook” where people can access Wi-Fi and simply connect with neighbors.
As our Director of Regulatory Affairs, Angela has known her way around the Statehouse and the state budget for a long time. But in the past few years, by guiding the MCOs through the Ohio Department of Medicaid’s Community Reinvestment initiative, she’s had the opportunity to be involved in and inspired by the great work the plans do on the ground in communities all around the state.
Give a listen to the episode — “Prescriptions for Progress: Food, Health and Healing in Appalachia” — and get your own dose of inspiration.
