Monday, October 14, 2019

[EXCLUSIVE] Open Hand and Partners to Launch "Food Pharmacy" Jesse Hill Market at Grady

A partnership between Grady, Open Hand and the Atlanta Community Food Bank will soon bring an innovative new educational and eating option to Downtown Atlanta.  Jesse Hill Market is slated to open early next year at 80 Jesse Hill Jr. Drive where in 2016 McDonald's closed a restaurant on the campus of Grady hospital.  The concept, along with the road on which it's located, are named for civil rights activist and businessman Jesse Hill, Jr. who died in 2012 at the age of 86.  

The new endeavor was promoted at Open Hand's recent fundraiser Party in the Kitchen. Materials for the new endeavor promise "A corner market pioneering big health solutions."  Subsequent attempts to gather more information from those involved in the market's launch were unsuccessful. 

The space, which is currently being renovated, will offer several amenities to both employees of Grady and the community at large.  Among the offerings planned for the market are a Grab & Go cafe, a farmer's market and a "food pharmacy" where customers [patients] are provided affordable [or perhaps free?] fruits, veggies and other 'better for you' foods.  The market will also have a teaching kitchen and an area for benefits enrollment.

All of the offerings are in an effort to push the idea of "food as medicine," providing affordable and accessible healthy food and education.

There is at least one similar concept elsewhere in America.  Geisinger Hospital in central Pennsylvania launched their Fresh Food Farmacy in 2016 and today operates a total of three locations in the area.  One of the Farmacy's primary objectives is to provide healthy, mostly plant-based foods to patients as a treatment for Type 2 diabetes.

Have you ever been to a food pharmacy or similar concept?  Are you excited for the planned early 2020 opening of Jesse Hill Market in Downtown Atlanta?  What items would you like most to see offered at Jesse Hill Market?

Please share your thoughts below  

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