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The West Virginia Department of Agriculture has partnered with Wheeling Health Right and Food Justice Lab of West Virginia University to expand its FARMacy program to Wetzel County this summer.
Participants in Wetzel County -- as well as outside participants -- can pick up produce from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Fridays at the Wetzel County Hospital at 3 E. Benjamin Drive.
The program started Friday at the Wetzel County Hospital in New Martinsville. It was developed in 2016 by physician's assistant Amanda Cummins and Dr. Carol Greco of Wheeling Health Right and is aimed at encouraging patients in West Virginia to use produce rather than prescription medications.
Holly Giovinazzo manages FARMacy in Wetzel County and partners with Grow Local, Go Local to include five Wetzel and Tyler county farms in the program. Garden Path, Jennings Brae Bank Farm, Creek Side Farm, Sycamore Creek Farm and Hilltop Farm all provide locally grown produce as well as diet and food instructions to patients.
The program's goal is to educate the public on healthy food options while also tackling chronic diseases like diabetes, high blood pressure and hypertension.
"FARMacy helps address rising healthcare costs while decreasing the number of medicine being prescribed, as well as providing more opportunities to local farmers," said Kent Leonhardt, West Virginia agriculture commissioner.
WVU's Food Justice Lab will help craft the surveys given to the patients before and after the 20-week trial period. They hope to track an improvement in patients' overall well-being. WVU Food Justice Lab also provides the grant used to pay for the FARMacy program.
The clinical research will be conducted by the nurse practitioners at Wheeling Health Right. They will be in charge of determining whether the farm produce has health benefits, and whether it is a sufficient substitute for prescribed medication.
"We hope to prove via data collection that 'food is medicine,' and that first method of both treatment and prevention of chronic disease should be a healthy diet," Giovinazzo said. "We want patients to learn that they can change their health by eating fresh produce."