Our Impact on Healthcare

One of the most important ideas at the heart of our mission is the belief that Food is Medicine. The clients of God’s Love live with severe, life-altering illnesses such as HIV, cancer, Alzheimer’s, or multiple sclerosis, among many others. Every meal cooked in our kitchen and home-delivered is nutritious and tailored specifically for each client’s individual diagnosis and medical need. Research has demonstrated that good nutrition promotes better health outcomes for the chronically ill. Malnutrition is one the greatest contributors to hospitalization, re-admission and nursing home care. That is why incorporating food and nutrition services, such as ours, into healthcare planning is necessary. Our program is a low-cost, highimpact intervention for people with serious illness.

Because we believe that Food is Medicine, it is crucial that everyone in the healthcare field understands that programs like God’s Love are a key piece of the puzzle when it comes to proper medical care and prevention. Our staff members are constantly in the field talking to our healthcare partners about why the services that God’s Love provides are imperative to their success in supporting the overall health of their patients. We have built strong relationships with hospitals and other providers through outreach presentations and establishing linkage agreements. Since 2005, we have partnered with Medicaid managed long term care plans (MLTC) in New York City, delivering medically tailored meals to their highest-risk beneficiaries. Additionally, our Nutrition Department has developed an immersion training program to teach medical residents about the social determinants of health, specifically how food and nutrition services impact their patients’ overall health, in collaboration with SUNY Downstate Department of Family Medicine Residency Program.

Our goal is to ensure that as many healthcare professionals as possible know about our program and know when to refer a patient to us. When God’s Love has a seat at the healthcare table, healthcare providers can help prevent their patients from getting sicker by referring them to us at an early stage.