How Is Project Angel Heart Helping Vulnerable People in the Covid-19 Pandemic?
In Colorado, more than 1,200 people living with life-threatening illnesses rely on Project Angel Heart to provide them with healthy, nutritious meals each week. Initiatives implemented by Project Angel Heart help Coloradans heal, stay positive, avoid infections, and maintain energy while undergoing treatment.
The current Covid-19 pandemic presents unique challenges to nonprofit organizations like Project Angel Heart. Nevertheless, it remains committed to serving local communities, providing medically optimized meals to clients in their own homes. In this article, we look at the vital services provided by Project Angel Heart, and steps implemented by the organization to keep its staff, volunteers, and clients safe from Covid-19.
Project Angel Heart supplies nutritious meals to Coloradans experiencing illness.
Founded in 1991, Project Angel Heart helps Coloradans diagnosed with a variety of conditions access healthy food, helping them heal, grow stronger, and remain in their own homes.
Many clients are too ill too cook for themselves or visit the grocery store. Others face the impossible choice of whether to buy food or medication with their limited funds. In consultation with registered dietitians, Project Angel Heart’s professional chefs create thousands of delicious, medically tailored meals that are delivered weekly to individuals with a range of debilitating and life-threatening conditions.
The organization strives to improve the health and wellbeing of individuals in need, even preparing each meal from scratch. Project Angel Heart clients report improved health, energy levels, and less stress as a result. Moreover, they’re better able to afford and adhere to their prescribed healthcare plans.
Project Angel Heart meal recipients have lower hospital readmission rates and healthcare costs.
Since its founding, Project Angel Heart has received vast amounts of feedback from clients and their physicians citing the positive impact the program has had on client health. Data from the Colorado All-Payer Claims Database identifying client healthcare costs before, during, and after participation in Project Angel Heart meal programs produced some startling findings.
The average hospital readmission in the United States costs approximately $13,430. However, there is a 13 percent reduction in the rate of hospital readmissions among recipients of medically tailored meals, resulting in significant savings. Similarly, clients with congestive heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and diabetes saw reductions in medical costs of around 24 percent on average. While receiving meals from Project Angel Heart, they typically enjoyed savings of between $416 and $736 a month.
Also, participants spent less time in hospital overall, particularly those living with congestive heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes, and end-stage renal disease. In fact, they saw an average reduction in their hospital costs of between $111 and $555 after meal deliveries began.
Food as medicine
What we eat can have a profound impact on our health and wellbeing. Research shows that dietary habits not only influence our risk of developing a disease but how our body copes with illness. While for some people, certain foods trigger chronic health conditions, others have a positive impact, lowering disease risk and improving overall health and wellbeing.
Nutrition remains a hot topic, with social media creating hype over purported “miracle foods” such as turmeric, green tea, and coconut oil, much to the consternation of experts. Many leading scientists are currently calling for a ban on the term “detox diet,” arguing that no tea, juice, or smoothie can actually “cleanse” our bodies of anything, as it is the job of our digestive system, liver, and kidneys to eliminate toxins.
Diet is not a replacement for prescribed medicines or therapies. Nevertheless, research has shown time and time again that positive dietary and lifestyle changes can have a beneficial impact on many conditions. By providing medically tailored meals, rich in key nutrients, Project Angel Heart helps its clients regain and maintain their health and wellbeing.
Supporting clients through the Covid-19 pandemic
Every year, Project Angel Heart partners with Colorado’s restaurant community, hosting the Dining Out For Life event to raise funding for clients with HIV/AIDs. Unfortunately, due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the need for social distancing, the 2020 event had to be postponed. Project Angel Heart instead invited the public to join its Dining IN For Life campaign on April 30, ordering take-out and deliveries from partnering restaurants and making donations to Project Angel Heart online.
In recent weeks, Project Angel Heart has experienced an upsurge in demand. The organization is currently implementing a new phase in its response to Covid-19. In partnership with two leading Coloradan healthcare providers, Project Angel Heart is upscaling distribution of its medically tailored meals to include individuals suspected of contracting Covid-19.
