The heart of social responsibility: how St. Mary's helps patients battling food insecurity
Imagine yourself in the shoes of a growing number of Canadians struggling to afford food, clothing, toiletries, and medication.
Now, imagine getting sick or injured and landing in the hospital for several days. As you prepare for discharge, stress begins to build. Back home, your cupboards are bare. What are you going to eat tonight?
As you try to piece together a plan, a nurse walks in with a reassuring smile and a brown paper bag. Inside, is a nourishing frozen meal to take home, free of charge, thanks to a new, donor-fueled program at St. Mary’s General Hospital.
At least for tonight, you won’t be hungry. Your body can focus on recovery.
Addressing a growing problem
St. Mary’s launched Battling Food Insecurity in January 2024, but the program’s roots date back to the COVID-19 pandemic when social workers noticed an alarmingly increasing trend with patients struggling to secure their meals.
Data from Statistics Canada suggests that 8.7 million people lived in food-insecure households in 2023, up from 6.9 million a year earlier.
Tracey Ostermann, the social work lead at St. Mary’s, searched for ways to help.
Inspired by a program at Grand River Hospital, the social work team at St. Mary’s kickstarted an initiative that would provide frozen meals to patients in need upon discharge from the hospital.
No one would be judged. No one would be questioned. If a staff member at any step of the patient’s care journey felt that patient would benefit from a free frozen meal, they would be given one.
- Tracey Ostermann
Funding the need
Tracey secured a partnership with Community Care Concepts to supply free, pre-packaged, frozen meals. All the hospital needed was a freezer – a $1,500 investment via community donations – to get the program off the ground.
Tapping into the foundation’s Innovation Fund, Tracey applied for a grant to secure the freezer.
Going beyond
Since the program’s kick-off, hospital staff have given roughly 70 meals per month to patients in need, numbers that have surpassed Tracey’s expectations.
“I’m really proud of the volume that we are distributing and (how often) we’re helping out patients,” she says. “But I’m also proud of how the entirety of the hospital has gotten behind this program.
Every medical unit – cardiology, respirology, the emergency department, pre-surgery clinics, outpatient clinics – they all have patients benefitting from this.
- Tracey Ostermann
Small price tag, big impact
The beauty of the Battling Food Insecurity initiative shines in its simplicity.
A relatively inexpensive piece of equipment – a freezer – was integral to its success, showing that every donation, no matter the amount, can make a difference in community care.
One social worker relayed a message to Tracey recently, recalling how she gave a meal to a patient who was preparing for surgery while also caring for a sick relative.
Tracey keeps the feedback close to her heart.
“With tears in her eyes and a request to hug me, (the patient) expressed her gratitude for the program,” she says, reading her colleague’s comment.
We are so pleased that this program gives patients something concrete, something useful.
- Tracey Ostermann
