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. 

Read the article.