Preventive medicine 101: Hospitals incorporate farmers markets into facilities:

Hospitals in Texas are offering fruits and vegetables to poorer patrons at a subsidized price to encourage healthy habits.

The poor and middle class, for whom often times unhealthy food is cheaper and more plentiful than healthy food, suffer disproportionately from high rates of obesity and related diseases. A doctor’s advice to “eat better” is essentially useless given these circumstances.

The Harris County Hospital District has partnered with a Houston-based nonprofit organization called Veggie Pals to offer fresh vegetables and fruits at a subsidized price, to compete with the cheaper food options in these patients’ neighborhoods. The easy availability — it’s just down the hallway from the doctor’s office — is coupled with advice about the benefits of these foods and how to prepare them.

The program is called Healthy Harvest and it makes great sense!

http://www.mnn.com/food/healthy-eating/stories/preventive-medicine-101-hospitals-incorporate-farmers-markets-into-facil