Please contact us with any useful reports or research.

Gardens in Healthcare Facilities

by Clare Cooper Marcus, MA, MCP and Marni Barnes, MLA, LCSW
Published by The Center for Health Design, 1995

We are convinced that with more persuasive information as to their benefits, many more hospital administrators and medical staff would encourage the use of outdoor spaces for healing and stress reduction. We hope this report will be one tool in raising consciousness in this important area. Read more…

Healing Gardens in Hospitals

Food Relief Goes Local

Gardening, Gleaning, and Farming for Food Banks in the U.S.

By Domenic Vitiello, Jeane Ann Grisso, Rebecca Fischman, and Leah Whiteside
Funded by the Penn Center for Public Health Initiatives
2013

Food banks have recently enlarged their distribution and promotion of fresh vegetables and fruit. Many food banks are accomplishing this through involvement in and connections to local agriculture, in a diverse range of gardening, farming, and eld gleaning programs. Many food banks are also playing expanded roles in building community food security, especially through programs that support gardeners and farmers. As more Americans need food assistance while, at the same time, state and federal funding for food relief is shrinking, scaling up and replicating programs that distribute and support production and consumption of fresh produce oers a vital opportunity to transform food relief systems. Read more…

Healthy Hospital Food Initiative

A Survey and Analysis of Food Served at Hospitals by the
Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine and ADinfinitum
September 2005
Healthy food is almost as important to healing as competent medical care, and healthy eating habits play a critical role in preventing chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, and some cancers. Are hospital eating establishments meeting the need for low-fat, low-cholesterol, immune-boosting foods that can aid in recovery and promote health? To answer that question, nutrition professionals with the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) worked with ADinfinitum, Inc., to create the Healthy Hospital Food Initiative Questionnaire, a survey and analysis of menus and foods served at cafeterias and restaurants at hospitals across the country. Read more or access the report here…

California Healthy Food in Health Care Program Report

From the Soil Association (UK)

• First Aid for Hospital Food [PDF, 248 KB]
  Hospitals are proving that it’s possible to source fresh, local and organic food with no impact on cost. But too many are still falling short of acceptable standards.
• Hospital Food Review: Sourcing more local and sustainable food [PDF, 378 KB]
  A research report produced independently by Liz Alford, informing the findings in ‘First Aid for Hospital Food’
• A fresh approach to hospital food [PDF, 1.5 MB]
  This report sets out the Cornwall Food Programme, which pioneers tasty, healthier and environmentally friendly hospital meals.
• Case studies produced as part of this project, including three from Hospitals and care settings