FERGUS – Tucked out of view at the Trailside Medical Centre, but easily accessible to anyone, is a food pantry, where people struggling to make ends meet can pick up non-perishable food and hygiene items.
The Upper Grand Family Health Team has been stocking the pantry itself for the past 18 months but a new partnership with the Centre Wellington Food Bank will have the pantry regularly stocked and keep the pressure off medical centre staff to continually contribute.
And depending on usage, the pantry could acquire a fridge and offer some perishable foods in the future too.
It’s considered a pilot program and is part of food bank executive director Curt McQueen’s larger vision of having food hubs at various locations in the township.
“It’s the next step for us as a food bank,” said McQueen in an interview at the medical centre.
McQueen said there are people who are “food-insecure” who still don’t access the food bank. Travel barriers and historic stigma are two possible reasons that come to mind, he said.
He wants to break down those barriers, he said, because in order to be healthy, you need a healthy diet.
“So we’re looking for opportunities to get food out to people in other ways,” he continued.
“It’s important that people don’t worry if they qualify for it. The hope is that if people need food, it’s here.”
Family health team executive director Hilary Blackett said staff in health care settings often know if a patient lives with financial hardship and they often have a small stash of food items on offer.
Blackett said retired physician Dr. Peter McPhedran, who always had an interest in the social determinates of health, encouraged the family health team to offer such a service, as nutritious food and good health go hand-in-hand.
Partnering with the food bank takes the pressure off staff to stock the cupboard themselves, she said. And it ensures consistent supplies of food.
The partnership began mid-December, after Courtney O’Neill, nutritious food coordinator with the Centre Wellington Community Foundation, brought the two organizations together.
The foundation identified food access as a problem and created the nutritious food coordinator role two years ago to tackle it.
“Household food insecurity is an income issue,” O’Neill said.
“There’s no shortage of food. But we do need community action and community focus. I’ve found that everyone is interested in finding solutions.”
Her role, as she puts it, “is connecting the right people into the right conversations to connect more people to more food,” she said.
The partnership between the family health team and the food bank is just one example of how that benefits people who can’t afford to eat.
Blackett said the food hub at Trailside Medical Centre is already well-used, even without advertising or a formal announcement.
In the first nine days, 14 people used it, “and that’s higher than I anticipated,” she said.
Right now, the food hub has pasta, canned foods and vegetables, fruit cups, and hygiene products among its offerings. McQueen also arrived with several bottles of shelf-stable milk to add to the mix.
McQueen said he’s in discussion with a few other organizations that could host a small food hub as well.
He’s also seen in other communities where police and emergency mental health responders have emergency food kits that they distribute when appropriate.
“It’s another way to get food to people,” he said.
Blackett said the family health team’s community para-medicine team is another source that could distribute emergency food kits as they do home visits.
The food hub is located in the reception room of the family health team, which is located across the hall from Life Labs on the main floor of Trailside.
Blackett noted many patients are told to get blood work or other diagnostic tests done but they don’t.
She’s hoping the fact there’s a small food hub there will encourage people to get their blood work done and hop across the hall to get something for dinner.
All food bank donations should be delivered to the food bank location on Queen Street in Fergus, though donors can indicate food should go to the new hub.
And as for parking at the medical centre, Blackett said the facility offers free 15-minute parking.
And for those there for medical reasons, they can pop into the food pantry on their way out.
Trailside is open from 8am to 5pm weekdays; the hub is open the same hours.
“We want to meet people where they’re at and create as few barriers as possible,” Blackett said.
“With the food hub, it appears we’re on the right track.”
