“How can I best help our patients lead a healthy a lifestyle?” was a question that Maggie A. Riley, M.D., assistant professor and medical director of the Ypsilanti Health Center (YHC) asked herself when she took on leadership of health center last year.
Early on she created a survey to determine what problems her patients were facing that could affect their health, but were outside of the scope of traditional health care. She found that nearly 50% of patients surveyed faced food insecurity or felt they were not always able to purchase enough food to feed their families.
“This is something that we have to address,” Dr. Riley said. “It is really hard for a patient to focus on improving their blood pressure when they don’t have enough to eat or enough to feed their children. If we are truly going to have an affect on a person’s health and well-being, we have to meet their needs more broadly.”
Over the course of a year, Maggie’s Marketplace, a food pantry with a focus on healthy foods located inside the Ypsilanti Health Center, has become a reality. The marketplace will hold a public grand opening celebration and ribbon cutting on Monday, May 1 at 10:00 a.m.
Maggie’s Marketplace, will offer food to all YHC patients and their families to ensure they have access to healthy food. The marketplace will offer healthy foods like whole grains, fresh produce and other nutritional options. Beyond food, patients will also be provided with recipes developed by the health center’s dietician, April Pickrel.
“Food insecurity can affect a person’s health in a myriad of ways. By providing healthy foods and recipes to accompany them, we aim to improve the physical and mental health of our patients,” noted Dr. Riley
Maggie’s Marketplace, named after its champion, Dr. Riley, is the first of its kind effort at Michigan Medicine and the only U-M health center to offer this service.
Patients can make an appointment to visit Maggie’s Marketplace Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. by calling 734-482-6221. Patient walk ins during those times will also be accepted.
Maggie’s Marketplace was made possible through a partnership with Food Gatherers and grants from the Mott Administration Annual Fund and the Friends Gift Shops. If you would like to support this effort, please contact Ladele Cochran, health center manager, at 734-544-3202 or [email protected]. Food donations should be made directly to Food Gatherers.
