Dear Neighbors and Friends,
Last week, I had the honor of welcoming Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra to Leominster, where we hosted a roundtable to explore the connection between health, food and hunger.
Amazing organizations like Growing Places, The Spanish American Center, SproutChange, HEAL Winchendon, UMass and other health care partners from across the region were on hand to highlight the innovative work going on in the Montachusett Region and discuss with national leaders how their accomplishments can be replicated across the country.
As many of you know, for years, I’ve been calling for the White House to host a White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health. The first and only White House conference on hunger was held in 1969 – the year we put a man on the moon.
Some major policy changes came of out that conference like the WIC program, an expansion of school meals, and even things like iodized salt and fortified breads and cereals. But it’s way past time we held another conference.
For example, for far too long, the issues of hunger and health have been too siloed. But we know these issues are inextricably linked. One of the main takeaways that I hope comes out of this conference is to finally recognize hunger as a health issue. And that Food is Medicine.
Which brings me to our roundtable with Secretary Becerra. With us were an incredible, inspirational group of people who had firsthand experience with a number of the innovative, forward-thinking programs that treat hunger as a health issue in the Leominster area.
It was truly incredible to hear some of the work they’re doing as we put together our roadmap to end hunger for September’s conference.
I was also able to talk to Secretary Becerra about my bipartisan Medically Tailored Home-Delivered Meals Demonstration Pilot Act, which establishes a 3-year pilot program to assess the effects of providing medically tailored home-delivered meals to individuals living with diet-impacted disease.
Growing up, my grandmother used to tell me an apple a day keeps the doctor away. I’ll be honest, I didn’t really listen to her back then. But now I realize that hidden in her saying was an important truth: What we eat plays a major role in our overall health.
Prioritizing healthy meals can help prevent costly hospital visits and expensive prescription drugs while lowering hospital admissions, improving outcomes, and saving money.
September’s White House conference gives us a chance to think holistically about the issues of hunger, health and nutrition for the first time in a generation.
After leading the charge to make this happen, I genuinely believe that this conference has the power to be transformational resulting in smarter policies towards food, nutrition, and health that will pay dividends for years to come and lead to a healthier future for all Americans.
With Gratitude,
Jim McGovern
Member of Congress