St. Luke’s University Health Network in eastern Pennsylvania started a farm to encourage staff and patients to choose a healthful lifestyle, according to an article on the Hospitals & Health Networks website.
During harvest season, tomatoes, peppers, zucchini and other vegetables produced on the five-acre organic farm on St. Luke’s Anderson Campus are used to prepare staff and patient meals — and surplus produce is sold in the cafeterias.
“I’ve become so spoiled that I don’t want to go to the grocery store,” Denise Rader, director of media relations, said in the article. “Everything looks anemic by comparison.”
St. Luke’s Anderson Campus partnered with Rodale Institute, a nonprofit organization that researches and advocates for organic farming practices, to establish the farm earlier this year. Rodale provides an on-site farmer who plants and harvests the produce and coordinates deliveries to the hospitals.
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