600 - Tackling Food Insecurity with a Clinic-Based Food Pantry and Referrals to Community-Based Food Pantry in New York City

Poster Number: 600
Publication Number: 600.411

Zachary J. Gallin, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, United States; Leora Mogilner, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, United States; Sonia Khurana, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, United States; Paige Cloonan, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Manhattan, NY, United States; Jennifer Acevedo, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, United States; Haley B. Ottensoser, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Lawrence, NY, United States; Alexis N.. Burgess, The Mount Sinai Kravis Children's Hospital, NY, NY, United States; Adina D. Singh, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, South Richmond Hill, NY, United States; Katherine Aliano Ruiz, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, United States; Shachi Mistry, Mt. Sinai, Dept. of Environmental Medicine and Public Health, Jersey City, NJ, United States; Lauren Zajac, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, United States

Background: Pediatricians can detect and address food insecurity (FI), a significant issue affecting children’s health. As part of its socioeconomic determinants of health (SDH) screening program, the pediatric clinic at Mount Sinai provides families with FI an emergency food package, a referral to community resources such as the New York Common Pantry (NYCP), and information about food assistance programs (such as WIC and SNAP). Understanding the impact of the SDH program on FI can inform program design.

Objective: To assess changes in FI over a 3-month period among families with FI that were referred by a SDH program to on-site clinic food pantry.  

Design/Methods: Families with FI were offered an emergency food package, information about food assistance programs and an invitation to participate in the study. We collected baseline sociodemographic data, and families completed the 18-item USDA Household Food Security Survey at enrollment and three months later. Information on participation in food assistance programs and registration in local food pantries was gathered. In order to explore changes in FI scores over time, we used a mixed-effects model. This model was adjusted for child’s race and sex, housing type, insurance, caregiver education, employment, and number of unmet social needs.  

Results: 113 families with FI enrolled in the study and 63 (56%) completed the 3-month follow-up USDA Household Food Security Survey. In a mixed-effects model, enrollment in the SDH program was associated with a decrease in the mean FI score at 3 months [4.4 (SD=3.6) to 3.3 (SD=3.3)] (p< 0.05). This remained significant after adjusting for covariates (p< 0.02). All families that enrolled accepted a food package, and 23 (20%) consented to get information about SNAP and 10 (9%) accepted information about WIC. Forty-three (68.3%) families accepted a referral to NYCP, and 24 (56%) of 43 became clients.

Conclusion(s): Families with FI who were referred to an on-site pantry which provided food packages, referrals to neighborhood pantries, and information about food assistance programs experienced a decrease in FI over a 3-month period. Future plans include assessing changes in FI over a 12-month period and analyzing which interventions were most impactful. Our program, which provides immediate food assistance while linking families to more long-term assistance may be a successful model for combating food insecurity.