Nourish Announces New Cohort to Lead Food Innovation in Health Care
Media Spotlight
National Cohorts
Health Care Innovation
Lana Brandt
Cohort to Use Untapped Power of Food to Act on Climate Change & Health Inequities
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Saskatoon (September 21, 2023) – Today, Nourish is thrilled to announce its next Anchor Cohort, which represents hospital and community partnerships working together to take climate action, reduce health inequities, and improve community well-being by addressing food insecurity and promoting food sovereignty. Nourish’s third Cohort includes five teams throughout Canada who are joining Nourish at the national Food for Health Symposium in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan for a two-day event and Cohort launch on Friday, September 22, to kick-off their work together over the next two years.
“The Anchor Cohort teams represent powerful health care and community leadership and innovation that are dedicated to shifting practices and policies in support of planetary health,” said Jen Reynolds, Co-Executive Director of Nourish. “Nourish recently completed its two-year journey with remarkable impact in health care facilities including reduced carbon footprints through plant-forward menus, waste reduction, Indigenous-inspired meals, and policy shifts to enable Indigenous communities access to traditional foods in health care,” Reynolds continued.
One of the five teams in the next Cohort is a partnership between Six Nations Health Services and McMaster University. “Six Nations Health Services is pleased to partner with Nourish and McMaster University to build upon a long-standing relationship to extend into supporting the advancement of access, knowledge, and relationships with food, specifically our Haudenosaunee foods. We look forward to being a part of the Nourish Cohort program and striving towards food sovereignty within our community,” said Kelly Gordon, Community Dietitian and Portfolio Lead of Community Health and Wellness at Six Nations Health Services.
The last Nourish Cohort achieved many noteworthy accomplishments, including the Saskatchewan team sourcing produce from 30 local producers and establishing a food strategy to add more plant-based foods and Indigenous items to health care menus, which has now been adopted across the provincial health authority. Another team in London has run a garden on hospital grounds two years in a row, this year anticipating over 250kg of fresh produce for patients while also increasing total waste diversion from landfill to compost by 18%. The next five participating Cohort teams include health systems in Six Nations, Toronto, London, Newfoundland and Labrador, and BC’s Lower Mainland. Learn more about the teams in the third Nourish Cohort and be inspired by the results from the last Cohort here.
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Nourish empowers health care to embrace food as medicine to advance health equity, climate action, and community well-being. We work to harness the untapped and neglected power of food in health care to transition to food and health systems that build health for patients and the planet.
Media Contacts:
Nourish: Lana Brandt, Communications Manager Phone: 778.833.2954 Email: lbrandt@nourishleadership.ca
Anchor Cohort Media Contacts:
Six Nations Health Services Media Contact: Kaya Hill – hpcfa2@sixnations.ca
Toronto Media Contact: Grant Beamish – gbeamish@mohawkmedbuy.ca London
Media Contact: Allison Hansen – Allison.Hansen@sjhc.london.on.ca
BC Lower Mainland Media Contact: media@fraserhealth.ca
Newfoundland and Labrador Media Contact: Amanda Macneil – amanda.macneil@lghealth.ca