Open Hand Atlanta Inc

Good measure mealstm (gmm), open hand's fee-for-service social enterprise program, offers nutritious, high-quality meal plans to people who wish to manage chronic illnesses such as diabetes, hypertension or obesity, and people looking to improve or maintain a healthy lifestyle through better nutrition. This program extends open hand's mission across the full socio-economic spectrum, making an even greater impact on our community. In 2024, open hand's gmm served 606 customers a total of 46,946 healthy meals through this program. Good measure mealstm also provides corporate wellness education to customers across atlanta in 2024, the rdns provided 35 nutrition programs and 10 nutrition consults expanding virtual nutrition care to these customers.

Open hand's produce prescription program (prx) is a program connecting healthcare patients to nutrition education and fresh, locally grown produce. This program provides nutrition education classes conducted by rdns and trained educators paired with weekly home delivered produce box distribution for three or six months. We start the program by providing intensive nutrition and cooking classes for six weeks and then individuals participate in monthly reunion sessions to reinforce the skills of purchasing and preparing healthy food on a budget to underscore the relationship between diet and health. In 2024, open hand delivered 4,843 produce boxes to prx participants in this program.

In 2024, open hand extended the reach of our comprehensive nutrition programming by achieving several key goals: a. Open hand and good measure mealstm served a combined total of approximately 10,296 clients in 2024. This includes more than 1,397,000 home-delivered meals, nutrition supplements, and meals provided in a congregate setting. In 2024, our registered dietitian nutritionists (rdn) worked with 3,420 clients, providing extensive nutrition education including chronic disease and diabetes self-management, healthy choices for every body, produce prescription programs, and conducting virtual and in-clinic medical nutrition therapy (mnt, nutrition counseling prescribed by a physician). B. The following programmatic milestones were achieved in 2024:1. Medically tailored meals program helping our clients better manage their chronic disease by providing medically tailored meals is always a primary focus for open hand. In 2024, approximately 58% of our clients reported spending fewer days in the hospital, 66% reported improvement in at least one health indicator and 93% reported they have more ease or about the same ease in taking their medications as a result of receiving prepared meals.our annual client survey focused on measuring the impact of our services. Of the clients who responded that had a chronic condition, 36% reported they achieved an improvement in their cholesterol levels, 41% achieved an improvement in blood pressure, and 27% achieved an improvement in blood sugar. 2. As a component of our medically tailored meal program, our home-delivered meal clients have access to open hand rdns to consult with them about their nutrition and health as it relates to their chronic disease. Open hand clients who see an rdn report positive changes in their nutrition-related habits such as shopping for healthier foods while grocery shopping, learning how to prepare healthy meals on their own, or learning how to read nutrition facts and ingredient labels. 3. Medically tailored grocery program designed by open hand rdns, the medically tailored grocery program is an innovative solution to reduce food insecurity, increase intake of healthy foods, and increase nutrition knowledge in high-risk adults in metro atlanta. Open hand volunteers pack and deliver weekly medically tailored grocery bags for program participants which include seasonal fresh fruit and vegetables and non-perishable items, along with nutrition education materials and recipes relevant to the contents of that week's grocery basket to encourage consumption. Open hand provided 138,948 medically tailored grocery meals in 2024.4. Produce prescription program (prx) in 2024, open hand conducted 26 cohorts of prx across metro- and south georgia, which included 6 weeks of evidence-based nutrition education classes conducted by rdns and trained educators. These cohorts were comprised of 205 total participants at baseline and maintained a 53% retention rate over the course of the 3 or 6-month programs. The programs concurrently provided weekly produce box distribution during the six weeks of classes and continued after the conclusion of classes. Open hand also provided a prx program for people living with hiv/aids with additional funding from the department of hiv elimination in atlanta. The evaluation findings suggest that this prx program resulted in a statistically significant improvement in food security and enhanced healthy eating habits, including an increase in the variety of fruits and vegetables consumed alongside a decrease in consumption of fried foods and sugar-sweetened beverages. With regards to food choices, at the end of the program approximately 75% of participants reported confidence with procuring and preparing healthy foods. Lastly, we've observed improvements in health and wellbeing over the program, noting decreases in participant body mass index (bmi) and systolic blood pressure levels from baseline to midline, which were sustained through the end of the program.5. In in 2024, open hand continued working on a virtual nutrition education program in rural georgia, providing 471 engagements with socially vulnerable georgians. This program, called georgians receiving insightful nutrition telenutrition seminars (or grits).6. Following the success of the post-discharge meal program in 2021 and recognizing that nutrition is critical for patients recovering from hospitalization, open hand continued the program via local health systems and kaiser permanente in 2024. Through this program, 310 clients received 21 meals delivered to their home following hospitalization. Participants were also screened for nutrition risk following their hospitalization and for those who screened high on their nutrition risk, they were referred to an open hand rdn for medical nutrition therapy.7. Food as medicine coalition as a charter member of the national food is medicine coalition (fimc), open hand continues to advocate with our fellow members across the country for federal funding streams that support home-delivered, medically-tailored meals and nutrition education. Open hand continues to be part of the elite group of community-based organizations and in 2024 assisted in building an accreditation process administered by fimc for meeting or exceeding the rigorous standards established by the coalition. Those standards include meeting specific medically appropriate nutrition targets for all made from scratch meals, strict quality control measures, the offering of menus designed by licensed rdns to meet a variety of serious chronic health conditions, and the provision of medical nutrition therapy (mnt) administered by rdns. Open hand was audited in november 2024 by fimc to ensure compliance with its accreditation standards. Open hand expects to receive accreditation in early 2025. 8. In 2023, open hand continued the gestational diabetes mellitus (gdm) pilot program which provided 16 weeks of diabetes-friendly meals and virtual nutrition education to women recently diagnosed with gdm. Participants were also provided support by connecting with an rdn and other women experiencing gdm. This research was completed in 2023 with hopeful publication of the results in 2024.c. The following community outreach/advocacy milestones were achieved in 2024:1. Open hand staff members made presentations at various national and regional conferences to showcase our research and evaluation projects around medically tailored meals and nutrition education. In 2024, 10 open hand staff members presented at national and local conferences. Presentation topics included snap-ed projects, produce prescription programs, medically tailored meals, and other innovations in nutrition education, especially for older adults. Open hand staff are regularly featured at the national food is medicine coalition's annual symposium, and 5 staff members presented at the symposium in september 2024.2. To promote policy, systems, and environmental change, open hand staff regularly meet with elected officials to advocate for the importance of medically tailored meals. In 2024, open hand staff met with officials both in georgia and in washington, d.c. The year began by interacting with several members of georgia's general assembly at a legislative breakfast focused on healthcare and georgia council on aging's annual senior day at the capitol. Additionally, members of open hand's team traveled to washington, d.c. With the food is medicine coalition where they met with four members of the georgia delegation, plus three additional high-ranking members of congress who are champions for medically tailored meals and nutrition education. The year ended with the grand opening ceremony for our state-of-the-art new campus that was attended by the honorable mayor of atlanta, andre dickens, and the honorable vice chair of the fulton county board of commissioners, khadijah abdur-rahman.3. Open hand has a robust marketing strategy to elevate open hand's mission and educate the community about the role of medically tailored meals and nutrition education in the health of greater metro atlanta area and beyond. Open hand's social media engagement rates in 2024 were 4-5% higher than industry standard across its preferred platforms (meta and linkedin). Additionally, in 2024, open hand was featured in the media on 32 total occasions, demonstrating the importance of our work in the community. Media features included open hand's move to a new 43,000 square foot state-of-the-art campus headquarters and the successful completion of its capital campaign, the healing power of food.4. Open hand has won many awards and was the proud recipient of the following awards in 2024: -voted as a healthiest employer by the atlanta business chronicle in august 2024-covenant community, inc. Pillar of hope award