Farms in Healthcare: Enhancing Knowledge, Sharing, and Collaboration

Abstract

The Farm at St. Joseph Mercy Health System is a hospital-based farm addressing the social determinants of health and working to close the gap between nutrition, health, and agriculture. Although the number of hospital-based farms nationwide are increasing, they are still quite unique and widely dispersed. Five videos created as part of a Farms in Healthcare Toolkit fills the need to share resources and best-practices. The videos focus on The Farm at St. Joe's and highlight their operations, programs, and focus areas. In addition, the five videos increase awareness of The Farm and escalate its ability to grow a robust, resilient, and healthy community. They furthermore serve as the beginning stages of connecting and aggregating farm knowledge and networks, ultimately influencing other healthcare-based agricultural initiatives to share knowledge and resources from their own programs.