Aetna partners with Inter-Faith to end Food Crisis

Aetna Medicare and Inter-Faith Food Shuttle will contribute in Community Health Education initiatives for seniors and families in central North Carolina in 2021. The Food Shuttle employs cutting-edge tactics and interventions to give nutritious food and resources to senior citizens who are in need. This includes the Grocery Bags for Seniors initiative, which provides fresh vegetables and groceries to low-income neighbors monthly through door-to-door distribution.

1. Survey: In North Carolina, 9% of seniors are at risk of being food insecure. Hunger among seniors aged 60 and up have climbed by 38 percent since 2001, according to Feeding America. Health and dental concerns, reduced mobility, lack of transportation, social isolation, and cognitive decline are all issues that older individuals with poor or fixed-income experience, putting them at risk for malnutrition.
2. Goals: The Food Shuttle uses innovative strategies and interventions to provide healthy food and resources to older adults in need. Volunteers in Inter-Faith Food Shuttle’s warehouse-pack over 1,000 bags of nutritious food and education materials ready for delivery through the Grocery Bags for Seniors program.  
3. Partnership: The Aetna partnership has extended into the Food Shuttle’s pilot Food Access and Education for Rural Seniors (FAERS) Program, which serves low-income African-American and Hispanic seniors living with type 2 diabetes in Johnston County. This program, which runs from February to October 2021, is focused on providing participants with nutrition education, increasing the number of meals and seniors served, increasing home deliveries, and developing collaboration with community partners who work with seniors in the area.  
4. Community education: Aetna Medicare’s support recently included involvement with the Food Shuttle’s Community Health Education (CHE) Cooking Matters courses, which emphasizes healthy low-cost meals and nutrition education. Aetna representatives stopped by a Cooking Matters class held at Camden Street Learning Garden to take part in the class and hand out prizes for the Food Bingo game.
5. More engagements from Aetna: Many of our neighbors who are on the verge of going hungry are forced to choose between food and medical expenses, or food and keeping the lights on. The Food Shuttle appreciates collaborative collaborations that allow us to better serve our communities. As Grocery Bags for Seniors and CHE programming continue, Aetna aims to increase engagement this fall.