Issue link: https://tmcpulse.uberflip.com/i/1138339
22 t m c » p u l s e | j u ly 2 0 1 9 "This community doesn't have a lack of knowl- edge of what they need to do, they have a lack of access," said Michelle Seitzinger, director of nurs- ing and manager of the community farm program at LBJ Hospital. "Diabetes and high blood pres- sure are the biggest problems our population is facing. These conditions are not uncommon, but the biggest difference in our community is that our patients don't have access to a grocery store." The lack of accessible fresh food coupled with the fact that many residents rely on public transportation means that many people buy meals at convenience stores, she added. It's also chal- lenging for patients to get from their homes to LBJ Hospital. "Many of our patients rely on the METRO bus route for transportation," Seitzinger said. "The problem is that there are multiple stops between their home and their destination. They might have to walk a couple of miles to get to the bus stop and then that bus makes four different stops until it comes to LBJ. " Thinking outside the box To fight food insecurity in the area, Harris Health executives decided to create a farm and hired Rebecca Verm, full-time, to oversee it. Verm is a native Houstonian who graduated from The University of Texas at Austin with a degree in philosophy. "I began farming over a decade ago because I want to make agriculture real and accessible to everybody," Verm said. "I just never in my life imagined that a county-run hospital in Houston, Texas of all places—oil and gas, hospital central— would think this outside of the box." Creating a farm within a hospital has been a dream of Verm's since a conversation she had with her brother, a surgical resident at the University of Southern California. When her brother came back from a trip to India a few years ago, he told her they should open a hospital or clinic with a farm attached, because that is the only way people are going to be able to transform health care into a culture of health. "When I sat down and talked to Alan Vierling [former executive vice president and adminis- trator of LBJ Hospital] about why he created this vision for the farm and had come to the realization that this is what needs to happen in order to take health care to the next step, it brought me right back to that conversation with my brother—and I had to say yes," Verm said. But at one acre, the LBJ Hospital farm simply cannot produce enough food to feed the patients and staff at the 207-bed hospital. Instead, leaders are using the farm as a hub to host programming about produce, healthy eating and wellness. "We would love to be able to grow our farm to serve the LBJ cafeteria and to service more hospital cafeterias," Verm said. "We could feasibly provide enough food for the LBJ hospital cafeteria by utilizing hospital roof spaces and turning them green. If done the right way, that could reduce the hospital's utility costs and you can grow very efficiently in vertical gardens." Currently, the farm is harvesting 50 to 65 pounds of fresh produce weekly. At full production, Verm estimates the farm will produce about 500 pounds a week. "All of our produce is going to be donated and the donations are just to get people's feet in the door," Verm said. "Being able to feed and supply people with good, fresh vegetables is not going to be necessarily this farm's responsibility, but we, as stewards, want to help collaborate with other Rows of zucchini thrive on the community farm outside of LBJ Hospital in Northeast Houston. The farm could yield as much as 500 pounds of produce a week.