This summer, sixty patients from the Live Oak Health Center in Santa Cruz County have been given a “produce prescription” to help improve their access to nutritious produce.
This is made possible by a pilot program called Platos de Bienestar: Healthy Plates, which is supported by a grant from the Alliance’s Medi-Cal Capacity Grant Program. Participants will be given tokens to use at the farmers market to help them purchase fresh fruits and vegetables.
According to the Santa Cruz Farmers Market website, the goals of Platos de Bienestar are “to increase wellness, food security and sense of community for participants.”
Promotores (community health workers) will connect participants to supportive resources like CalFresh. They will also lead culturally responsive empowerment activities like farmers market tours and cooking demonstrations to support healthy food habit-building.
The program will run at the Live Oak Farmers Market through November.
