Reprinted from the summer 2018 issue of The Ohio Family Physician.
Throughout the United States, mega-grocery stores are abandoning their rural towns and low-income urban communities for wealthier city edges and prosperous suburbs. Without these businesses, residents in surrounding areas typically lose access to fresh fruits and vegetables, and gain more convenience stores and processed fast food, full of high fat and processed sugar.
This phenomenon is contributing to the obesity epidemic spreading across the United States, leading to an increase in heart disease and other related diseases. The Lower Lights Christian Health Center (LLCHC), located in the heart of Franklinton, OH, opened its doors in 2002 in response to the need for accessible, affordable health care.
Driven by visionary and former CEO Dana Vallangeon, MD, the LLCHC meets the ever-growing needs of underserved communities by providing healthcare services to nearly 15,000 patients each year. Employing up to 160 medical professionals and staff, the LLCHC has seven practices located across Central Ohio.
Dr. Vallangeon, an Ohio Academy of Family Physicians member, lives and practices in the Franklinton community, which suffers from extreme poverty and high unemployment. Nearly 44% of local households earn less than $15,000 each year, and 22% earn between $15,000 and $24,999 annually. In addition, 28% of the area’s residents are unemployed.
Through daily interaction with patients and residents, Dr. Vallangeon recognized that low-income patients needing healthcare services also lacked access to healthy, affordable food.
Seeing a community need for a full-service grocery store, Dr. Vallangeon decided to open a grocery store herself. She created her own grocery store model, Jubilee Market and Cafe, in the unused 4,500-square-foot space right inside the LLCHC. Funding for Jubilee Market and Cafe is derived from a variety of grants, private donors, and in-kind donations.
Since the neighborhood has long been without a grocery store, its nearly 20,000 residents have had little option but to buy food from their local corner store, gas station, or fast food restaurant at inflated prices. Many residents lack transportation, which limits their ability to travel outside the community to purchase groceries at other supermarkets and grocery stores.
For families with low incomes, the lack of affordable, fresh food increases significant risk factors for food insecurity and a variety of chronic illnesses including obesity, hypertension, diabetes, and asthma. For infants and children, the deficiency of adequate nutrition can lead to prematurity, low birth weights, and developmental delays.
Jubilee Market and Cafe is a not-for-profit that charges customers based on income. Shoppers simply sign-up for a shopper card with the LLCHC Financial Eligibility Department prior to going to the store. Cards are swiped at the register and prices are adjusted accordingly. This makes the shopping process easier and ensures that customers have an embarrassment-free interaction at check-out.
The grocery store offers fresh, high quality food at an affordable cost, provides nutrition education for those who shop there, employs approximately 20 people at a living wage, and promotes a safe, social environment where local art and artists are featured. By co-locating a grocery store with a community health center, Franklinton residents now have access to quality health care and nutritious foods.