Addressing the social needs of individuals with food allergy and celiac disease during COVID-19: A new practice model for sustained social care

ABSTRACT

COVID-19 has led to high rates of food insecurity. Food insecure patients with food allergy and celiac disease are especially vulnerable during the pandemic when foods become limited. This paper describes a practice innovation implemented by a community-based organization, Food Equality Initiative (FEI), whose mission is improving health and ending hunger among individuals with food allergy and celiac disease. FEI responded to the pandemic by converting their in-person pantries to a contactless delivery of safe foods. The practice innovation is discussed in relation to three system-level elements necessary to sustain the integration of social care into the delivery of healthcare.

KEYWORDS:

• Food insecurity
• food allergy
• celiac disease
• COVID-19
• social work

Disclosure statement

Blinded receives research grant support from The National Institutes of Health (NIH), Thermo Fisher Scientific, Food Allergy Research and Education (FARE), Genentech, National Confectioners Association, and Before Brands Inc. Blinded receives research grant support from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Food Allergy Research and Education (FARE), Stanford Sean N. Parker Center for Allergy Research, UnitedHealth Group, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Genentech, and the National Confectioners Association (NCA); and has served as a medical consultant/advisor for Aimmune Therapeutics, Genentech, Before Brands, Kaléo, DBV Technologies, ICER, DOTS Technology, and FARE. The rest of the authors declare that they have no relevant conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This article was supported by the The Center for Food Allergy and Asthma Research (Blinded).