Health & Fitness

Jan 15 2008

Kaiser Permanente Farmers' Markets Featured in The Journal of Life Sciences

Kaiser Permanente's farmers' market program and its founder, Preston Maring, MD, were featured this month in print and online editions of The Journal of Life Sciences.

Dubbing Dr. Maring "the Johnny Appleseed of hospital farmers' markets," the article notes that Dr. Maring founded Kaiser Permanente's first such market at its Oakland Medical Center in May 2003. The idea, Dr. Maring told the Journal, was that if vendors could sell trinkets in the hospital's foyer, why not offer farm-fresh produce for sale that would improve patients' and employees' diets and support Kaiser Permanente's message of Total Health.

Similar markets soon took root and today there are now 38 such farmers' markets at Kaiser Permanente facilities in Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Georgia, and Hawaii. In 2006, Dr. Maring led Kaiser Permanente's effort in Northern California to drive more organic produce into patients' meals. In 2007, some 60 tons of locally sourced produce – mostly organic – were included in thousands of patient meals in 19 Kaiser Permanente medical centers.

"A lot of Kaiser Permanente's history is about prevention in terms of all of our cancer-screening programs and diabetics screening and cholesterol screening and all that," Maring said in the article. "It's clear that there's nothing better for our patients and for the program than preventive medicine. And good food obviously is the foundation for good health."

For more, read the article in The Journal of Life Sciences titled "Nurse, Get This Patient Some Arugula," and view the accompanying photo essay.