Norton Sound Health Corporation gets $250,000 for produce prescriptions

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, award P4P1IHS0018, runs from Sept. 30, 2026, through June 30, 2031. The award period opens Wednesday. The federal record does not break the amount out by year.

American Indian and Alaska Native households had a 23.3% food-insecurity prevalence from 2016 through 2021, compared with 11.1% for the total population, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The money funds Phase 2 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 with the option to renew.

To stay eligible, participants must complete at least one nutrition education activity each quarter and a six-month evaluation. Success will be measured through A1C, blood pressure and weight, plus surveys, prescription tracking and participant feedback.

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. People can also refer themselves.

Norton Sound Health Corporation executes the Alaska Tribal Health Compact on behalf of 20 Alaska Native tribes and is the sole health care provider in a remote subarctic area where no road system connects communities. Its Chronic Care Active Management and Prevention (CAMP) department will run the program.

"CAMP is excited to offer a new Produce Prescription Program," the health corporation said on its CAMP webpage.

A USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture record also lists an active NSHC produce prescription project worth $483,612, running from September 2023 to September 2027 and targeting 100 households by the end of year three. Alaska News previously covered NSHC being in line for about $7.2 million across seven federal rural health projects.

The Indian Health Service awarded $3.5 million to 14 tribal and urban Indian communities for Phase 2 this year, up to $250,000 each, according to HHS. The Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation in Bethel received a separate $250,000 award for the same period, offering participants two $75 vouchers or produce boxes a month for fruits, vegetables and subsistence foods, with re-enrollment every three months.