Crossing Healthcare Gardens Planting Day

Description

Crossing Healthcare Gardens, a partnership between Crossing Healthcare, Mercy Gardens with Good Samaritan Inn, is hosting a planting day on Thursday, May 12, 2016, from 9 a.m.-noon. Volunteers and the community are welcome to attend planting day.

Located on the corner of East Central Avenue and North Warren Street (across from the main entrance of Crossing Healthcare), Crossing Healthcare Gardens will improve accessibility in an otherwise urban food desert and will increase access to fresh produce for Crossing Healthcare patients and residents of Decatur and Macon County.

“As a community healthcare organization, Crossing Healthcare is committed to giving our patients access to the tools—including fresh produce—they need to live healthier lives,” said Dana Ray, MD, Crossing Healthcare chief medical officer. “To offer that right across the street is an amazing opportunity for our patients and the entire community.”

The produce harvested from the garden will be available to patients, community members, and employees in a variety of ways:

• The providers at Crossing Healthcare will be able to write a prescription for fresh produce to patients who will in turn redeem their prescription at the Crossing Healthcare Gardens across the street. 
• A farmers market during harvest season will take WIC vouchers, LINK (SNAP benefits), debit and credit cards, and cash to help make the healthy choice the easy choice.
• Incentive programs and educational programs, dietitian-led produce-to-table classes, and money-saving programs will be made available to patients of Crossing Healthcare.

To find out more about Crossing Healthcare Gardens planting day, including how to volunteer, call Crossing Healthcare at (217) 877-9117.

About Crossing Healthcare
Crossing Healthcare is a federally qualified health center that provides primary outpatient healthcare. Since 1972, Crossing Healthcare has been operating as a non-profit organization serving Decatur and Macon County and striving to make the community a healthier one by providing medical care to men, women, and children of all ages with and without health insurance. The organization employs more than 80 people and treats over 12,000 people each year.