‘Nobody shops at the neighborhood store’: leveraging a community’s pediatric fresh produce prescription program to inform future participating store redemption locations

ABSTRACT

Research examining the nature of food shopping often considers proximity to the nearest or overall distance travelled to multiple stores. Such studies make up a portion of new work on so-called ‘food deserts’ and the issues inherent in the term, including that most people do not shop at their nearest store, and mobility challenges vary vastly from one person to the next. Increasing the knowledge base on shopping characteristics could be useful for behavioral interventions and programs aimed at increasing healthy food shopping. In this study, we examined the shopping characteristics of 627 caregivers whose children were enrolled in a pediatric fresh produce prescription program at one of three large pediatric clinics in Flint, Michigan. We compare these characteristics to the potential of a new food cooperative to improve geographic accessibility to healthy food. In particular, we propose the expansion of the prescription program to this new cooperative for health-related as well as local economic development reasons. Our work bridges topics of interest to researchers and practitioners working in nutrition, food access, and economic development.

KEYWORDS:

• Geographic information systems
• food access
• pediatric clinic
• produce prescription program
• food co-op

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. The locations of the North Flint Food Market co-op, the Flint Farmers’ Market and the Hurley Children’s Center are shown in Figure 1, and images of their exteriors are shown in Figures 2 and 3.

Figure 2. Side and Front views of the North Flint Food Market.

Figure 3. Front view of the Flint Farmers’ Market and Hurley Children’s Center.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development; Michigan Health Endowment Fund; Community Foundation of Greater Flint.

Notes on contributors

Richard C. Sadler

Richard C. Sadler is a medical geographer with expertise in environmental science, GIS, food systems planning, and land use policy in legacy cities. His research integrates urban planning and public health topics related to neighborhood effects on health. Recently, this has revolved around uncovering elements of structural racism in the housing environment and determinants of urban development that exacerbate racial and socioeconomic inequality. Sadler combines spatial analysis and community-based participatory research approaches. Throughout his work, the overarching goal is to strengthen the understanding between the built environment and health behaviors/outcomes with the goal of shaping land use policy to build healthier cities.

Amy Saxe-Custack

Amy Saxe-Custack is a Registered Dietitian and Assistant Professor in the Charles Stewart Mott Department of Public Health at Michigan State University. She serves as the Nutrition Director for the Pediatric Public Health Initiative, a joint effort between Michigan State University and Hurley Children’s Hospital, to address the impact of Flint’s population-wide lead exposure on children. A long-time resident of the Flint community, Dr. Saxe-Custack is dedicated to the evaluation and expansion of nutrition programs that target children and families living in Flint, with a particular focus on improving access to fresh foods.