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It's Official: Food is Medicine! by Charlene Perrone
The "Food is Medicine" movement is a relatively new healthcare approach integrating nutritious, diet-based interventions into clinical care to prevent, manage and treat chronic illnesses. The movement is based on strategies that prescribe medically-tailored meals and groceries to support disease management and optimal well-being.
It's proven that diabetes can often be controlled through appropriate nutrition and dietary planning. So what about other chronic diseases like heart disease, obesity, stroke, cancer... even mental health? Led by the team at Tufts University and its Food as Medicine Institute, the goal is to give healthcare professionals the tools they need to address nutrition security in their patients and to reduce chronic disease risk factors, using food instead of pharmaceutical medications.
The mantra is "Healthier Diets 4 Healthy Lives." On the Tufts website, you'll find a Food is Medicine Toolkit designed to help individuals, clinicians, health care workers and whole communities to design, implement and sustain nutritional programs to treat - and prevent - chronic diseases. With the help of the Food is Medicine Coalition, Tufts is facilitating the delivery of millions of healthy meals and groceries to people worldwide to promote wellness and reduce healthcare costs. And, with support from the Federal Nutrition Advisory Coalition, which includes members like General Mills and PepsiCo, there's hope this movement will catch on quickly and prove to people that yes, food can definitely be good medicine.
Charlene Perrone is the owner of Home Instead. 254-8701

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Historic $5 Million Gift Names New Wayne & Connie Spears Cardiac Catheterization Lab
Gift will support the Expansion of Roberta G. Veloz Cardiovascular Services at Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital
Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital Foundation is proud to announce a historic $5 million gift from Connie Spears, honoring the legacy she and her late husband, Wayne Spears, built together through decades of generosity and commitment to Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital. In recognition of their extraordinary support, the hospital's second cardiac catheterization laboratory will be named the Wayne and Connie Spears Cardiac Catheterization Lab.
The new cardiac catheterization lab will be part of the expansion of Roberta G. Veloz Cardiovascular Services, strengthening Henry Mayo's ability to provide advanced cardiac diagnostics, interventional procedures and lifesaving treatment close to home. The project is part of a broader surgical and cardiovascular expansion that also includes the new Richard and Marian Sandnes Post-Anesthesia Care Unit (PACU).
The $5 million commitment represents one of the most significant philanthropic gifts in Henry Mayo's history and continues a longstanding relationship between the Spears family, the hospital and the Foundation.
Wayne and Connie Spears have been part of the Henry Mayo family for decades. In 2010, they made a significant gift to name the hospital's Intensive Care Unit, helping advance critical care for some of the hospital's most vulnerable patients. Their connection to Henry Mayo has always extended beyond philanthropy and reflected a genuine affection for the hospital and the people it serves.
henrymayo.com