UniHealth Foundation Grant Addresses Growing Community Trend
For over 20 years, UniHealth Foundation has been deeply committed to helping nonprofit, community-based hospitals and health care organizations in Southern California, such as Emanate Health, meet the community need.
“Malnutrition has gone undiagnosed for so long. This grant will allow us to help people get healthier.”
– Angana Shah, MS, RD, Director of Food and Clinical Nutrition, Emanate Health Inter-Community Hospital
“Nutrition is a big part of a patient's recovery. You have to have protein in order to heal.”
– Remi Hayashi, Director of Food and Nutrition Services, Emanate Health Queen of the Valley Hospital
Research shows that an estimated 20 to 50 percent of American patient populations experience malnutrition (Kirkland, 2012).* Whether it be from consuming too little or eating foods low in essential nutrients, patients who are malnourished have slower healing rates, lower quality of life and are more often readmitted to the hospital.
UNIHEALTH FOUNDATION
In response, Emanate Health Foundation has partnered with UniHealth Foundation to address this issue head-on. Emanate Health began a pilot program to support recently discharged patients diagnosed with malnutrition in promoting healthy eating habits. UniHealth Foundation has awarded Emanate Health Foundation a $500,000 grant in support of the program.
“As a funder, we recognize that the social determinants of health are key to long-term community wellness,” explained Jennifer Vanore, PhD, President and COO of UniHealth Foundation. “Being able to support programs that impact communities beyond an institution’s four walls is why this was particularly important to us. That kind of innovation and effort is something, as a funder, that we are trying to encourage more among our partners across Los Angeles County.”
For over 20 years, UniHealth Foundation has been deeply committed to helping nonprofit, community-based hospitals and health care organizations in Southern California, such as Emanate Health, meet the community need.
NUTRITION FOR LIFE
In many cases, malnutrition may be the primary reason that patients are admitted and readmitted to the hospital. Issues such as muscle wasting, also called muscle atrophy, from lack of physical activity can cause patients to have unintentional weight loss. Often a result of disease or injury, it is a contributing factor of malnutrition.
According to Angana Shah, MS, RD, Director of Food and Clinical Nutrition at Emanate Health Inter-Community Hospital, “It [malnutrition] has gone undiagnosed for so long. This grant will allow us to help people get healthier.”
Through the Nutrition for Life program, healthy, medically tailored meals will be prepared in an Emanate Health hospital kitchen and delivered to discharged patients in their homes five days per week for a period of 60 days. Case managers will meet with program participants prior to discharge. Then hospital volunteers will deliver the meals to participants’ homes, offering words of encouragement to help keep them on the path to success.
“Oftentimes these types of volunteers don’t only serve the purpose that they intended to — in this instance delivering meals — but they also become a source of hope and comfort as well as a friend,” explained Tiffany Ramirez, Corporate Director of Volunteer Services.
PROGRAM ENROLLMENT
To be enrolled in the program, high-risk patients will be assessed both by their physicians and the registered dietitian to determine if they are clinically malnourished. Participants’ eating habits will be monitored during and after their hospital stay to monitor progress, including weekly telephone calls from a registered dietitian and home visits at 30 days and at 60 days after discharge.
Through this program, Emanate Health aims to turn the tide of malnutrition in the community to create positive change in people’s lives. To learn more, contact Emanate Health Foundation at 626.814.2421 or foundation@emanatehealth.org.
*National Association of Clinical Nurse Specialists. (January 2017). Malnutrition in Hospitalized Adult Patients — The Role of the Clinical Nurse Specialist Executive Summary. Retrieved from https://nacns.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Malnutrition-Report.pdf