Norton Sound Health Corporation gets $250,000 federal grant for produce prescription program

A $250,000 federal award will fund produce vouchers and shipments for food-insecure Alaska Native households in the Norton Sound region, aiming to enroll at least 50 households in the first year.

The Indian Health Service cooperative agreement runs from Wednesday, Sept. 30, through June 30, 2031.

The money funds the second phase of the Nome-based Norton Sound Health Corporation's Produce Prescription Pilot Program, which aims to increase access to and consumption of fruits, vegetables and traditional foods. Participants get monthly vouchers or produce shipments, nutrition education and nurse case management over a six-month enrollment that can be renewed.

To stay in the program, participants must complete at least one nutrition education activity each quarter and a six-month evaluation. The health corporation will measure results through surveys, prescription tracking, participant feedback and clinical measures such as A1C, a measure of blood sugar, along with blood pressure and weight.

Priority goes to people with chronic conditions or those enrolled in Medicaid, WIC or SNAP. Health care providers and community health aides can refer patients, and people can also refer themselves.

Norton Sound Health Corporation runs health care under the Alaska Tribal Health Compact on behalf of 20 Alaska Native tribes in the region. It is the sole health care provider in the area, where no road system connects communities. Its chronic care department, known as CAMP, will run the program.

Nationally, about 23% of American Indian and Alaska Native households were food insecure from 2016 through 2021, roughly twice the rate for all U.S. households, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data cited by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The Indian Health Service awarded $3.5 million to 14 tribal and urban Indian organizations for the program's second phase this year, up to $250,000 each, according to HHS. The Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation in Bethel was the other Alaska recipient. Its program offers participants two $75 vouchers or produce boxes a month for fruits, vegetables and subsistence foods.

Norton Sound Health Corporation also has a separate $483,612 U.S. Department of Agriculture produce prescription project running from September 2023 to September 2027.