当前环境：

Two women standing and a child sitting, in front of a paper grocery bag of food.
Paloma I.Suárez，MPH，CLC，波士顿儿科小儿健康和护理导航总监，是城市中的健康场所之一，与患者家庭合作，共享有关健康食品的资源和信息。

Health care providers are trained to identify, prevent, and treat diseases and chronic conditions. They also play an important role in supporting patients to manage social concerns that can impact their health — such as food insecurity.

根据Greater Boston Food Bank, one out of 10 children experienced food insecurity pre-COVID. This rate surged to one in five during the pandemic. State-wide, food insecurity has affected one in six white households with children, versus one in three Black and one in four Latino households.

The美国农业部（USDA）将粮食不安全定义为缺乏一致地获得足够的食物来实现活跃，健康的生活。它与饥饿不同，这意味着具有个人的身体不适感。粮食不安全是指在家庭一级缺乏用于食品的可用财务资源。在喂养美国了解更多信息.

波士顿儿童has focused on helping patients and families in our community to become more food secure for several years. Strategies are in place to meet the short-term needs of families as well as find longer-term solutions that reduce the conditions leading to food insecurity.

在这里，我们与波士顿儿童的两名领导人交谈，Shari Nethersole, MD, a pediatrician in our Primary Care Center and Vice President, Community Health and Engagement, and医学博士Snehal Shah，也是初级保健的儿科医生，也是负责任护理和临床整合部社区融合副总监。他们分享了为什么要解决粮食不安全和波士顿儿童的方法很重要。

Food insecurity has been an ongoing issue but we know many more families have been affected since COVID. Can you update us on patients and families in our community?

Nethersole：我们的社区合作伙伴一直在提出粮食不安全感，这是我们第一手从家庭中听到的。我们知道，这会给父母和照料者带来压力，焦虑和抑郁，从而导致家里的痛苦并影响整个家庭。

莎阿：粮食不安全是一个健康问题。它可能会影响孩子的身体健康以及他们的心理，行为，发展和学校表现。不幸的是，我们已经看到，Covid已经获得了食物并在家中获得足够的食物，对许多家庭来说更具挑战性。

在初级保健中，我们听到人们如何失业，或者他们在Covid之前已经在经济上已经脆弱了。由于个人资金和收入有限，家庭被迫做出艰难的决定，并在购买食物或支付租金之间做出决定。

为什么这对于波士顿儿童的问题是一个重要的问题？

Nethersole：波士顿儿童community mission是为了改善我们社区中儿童和家庭的健康和福祉。如果不考虑健康的社会决定因素，我们就无法做到这一点，这些疾病可能会影响一个人的健康，例如粮食不安全，贫困，暴力暴露或不稳定的住房。作为医院，如果我们想拥有积极的儿童健康成果并促进健康平等，我们必须研究这些问题。

莎阿：Health care providers and systems are increasingly screening for and responding to social needs. As Dr. Nethersole mentions, this is also an opportunity to promote health equity. The societal conditions that can lead to food insecurity are rooted in structural and social determinants that create economic insecurity. Our strategies are intended to help families overcome these barriers and create paths to achieve stability, which reduces the chances of food insecurity.

简要地告诉我们有关具体策略的信息。

Nethersole：Our approach has been to help with urgent needs, providing families with grocery store gift cards or bags of food, and connecting them to community resources. Another key strategy has been to support community-based organizations and health centers in their efforts to assist families around food access.

For example, Boston Children’s在城市计划中健康is a partnership with 11 health centers in Boston. The program is screening patients around social needs, providing them with food or grocery store gift cards, and also makes referrals to community food resources. Through our社区健康合作, we’re offering funding and technical assistance to several community-based groups who are not only providing direct services to families, but leading the way for improved systems and policies.

为了提高访问权限，我们正在开放Family Food Connections在12月与波士顿住房管理局. The site is located next to波士顿儿童at Martha Eliot Health Centerand within theMildred C. Hailey Apartments在牙买加平原。耐心的家庭和社区居民将能够选择自己的食物和钉书钉来回家。我们将提供营养教育，食谱以及预算中的烹饪和购物技巧。访客也将转介社区和经济稳定计划。

莎阿：For our patients, Boston Children’s has been working to identify those in primary care who are experiencing food insecurity. We get them connected to food and food resources, kitchen supplies, and community partners. But we also find ways to stabilize families by providing education and information about programs such as SNAP and WIC, which aim to reduce the risk for food insecurity.

我也想提一下政府关系办公室works with the Office of Community Health and has been actively engaged in advocating at the state level for SNAP and advancing the Earned Income Tax Credit legislation, which we’re hopeful will provide some relief to families.

What resources can you recommend?

莎阿：I would always suggest that people talk with their primary care provider to develop a plan. But here are a few other resources to consider:

For state-wide resources:

Greater Boston resources:

马萨诸塞州西部的资源：
Baidu