At this year’s Vermont Capital Advocacy Day, Little Rivers Health Care proudly raised its voice to champion a simple but powerful idea: food is medicine.

Emilie Perry, LRHC’s Food Is Medicine Program Coordinator, shared the story of how Maureen Boardman, NP and Director of Clinical Quality made a small, patient-centered act by filling her car with fresh produce for patients, which grew into a comprehensive, community-driven Food Farmacy program. Today, that program serves rural communities across Bradford, East Corinth, Newbury, Wells River, and neighboring New Hampshire towns, addressing one of the most pressing health challenges we face: the connection between nutrition and chronic disease.

Nearly one in five LRHC patients lives with conditions like heart disease, hypertension, or type 2 diabetes; conditions deeply influenced by access to healthy food. Through expanded screening efforts, we now identify food insecurity in real time and connect patients to critical resources like WIC, SNAP, and local food supports. For those with chronic conditions, our Food Farmacy provides fresh produce, eggs, and other staples every three weeks, totaling nearly 1,000 pounds of food distributed weekly.

This work goes beyond food access. It is about building relationships, offering education, and empowering patients to take control of their health. From recipes and kitchen tools to partnerships with local farms and healthcare organizations, LRHC is creating a model of care that integrates nutrition directly into clinical practice.

The results speak for themselves. Patients enrolled in our programs are experiencing measurable improvements in blood pressure and cholesterol, fewer missed appointments, and reduced stress. Many report eating more fruits and vegetables and cooking more meals at home—small shifts that lead to lasting health outcomes.

As Emilie emphasized in her remarks, while grant funding has allowed this work to grow, it is not a sustainable long-term solution. Advocacy efforts like Capital Day are critical to advancing policies that recognize and reimburse Food Is Medicine programs as essential healthcare services.

LRHC is committed not only to continuing this work, but to building a replicable model that can support other rural healthcare systems. With continued collaboration and policy support, we can ensure that every patient has access to the nutrition they need to thrive.



Because health doesn’t start in the exam room—it starts at the table.