God’s Love We Deliver providers have access to relevant information about each participating patient’s medical conditions and nutritional needs.
Credit: Lydia Lee
The importance of proper nutrition during recovery from a serious illness was one of the key lessons imparted by Hippocrates, traditionally regarded as the father of medicine: “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.”
Recognizing that this ancient wisdom still holds true, ϸ Langone Health has integrated home meal delivery into patients’ discharge planning at its Manhattan and Brooklyn campuses. Thanks to a self-funded partnership with , our health system bridges hospital care and home recovery by arranging for customizable meals to be delivered to eligible patients once they return home.
God’s Love We Deliver is the only medically tailored meal provider in the New York metropolitan area. Each weekday, more than 15,000 meals are prepared according to patients’ dietary needs and personal preferences. The organization, founded 40 years ago to deliver prepared meals daily to people living with AIDS in Manhattan, serves 17,000 New York City residents annually who, because of their illness, are unable to provide or prepare meals for themselves.
ϸ Langone’s partnership with the organization ensures continuity of care as patients transition from hospital to home—for some, the most challenging part of their recovery. The relationship between ϸ Langone and God’s Love We Deliver dates to 2019, when Erich Anderer, MD, chief of the Division of Neurosurgery at ϸ Langone Hospital—Brooklyn, joined the charity’s board of directors to assist with its governance and fundraising and to serve as an organizational ambassador. Several years later, Andrew Rubin, senior vice president for clinical affairs and ambulatory care, also became a member of the board, expanding the partnership beyond our Brooklyn hospital. “Food insecurity amplifies the difficulty of navigating chronic disease,” notes Dr. Anderer, “so it made sense for these two great organizations to work in tandem to keep patients healthy and out of the hospital.”
Kwan Hong Kim, LMSW, a medical social worker at ϸ Langone, understands the real-world challenges awaiting after discharge, such as managing medications and securing proper nutrition. “Some of our patients are used to being the primary cook in their household,” Kim explains, “so having someone else prepare meals relieves a huge logistical and financial weight.” Research has shown that medically tailored meals can reduce the rate of hospital readmission by up to 13 percent.
God’s Love We Deliver providers have access to relevant information about each participating patient’s medical conditions and nutritional needs. “We are constantly demonstrating how medically tailored meals are part of a healthcare delivery system in a world that tends to think of healthcare as doctors’ offices, prescriptions, and surgeries,” notes Allyson Schiff, director of business development for God’s Love We Deliver. “All our meals are low sodium and heart-healthy, the foundation of a medically tailored meal.”
For Nancy Bourges, a Coney Island resident caring for her daughter following a transplant at ϸ Langone, the meal delivery service came as an unexpected blessing. Bourges initially was hesitant about the service when it was first offered. “My daughter is a picky eater, so I didn’t want to take food away from somebody it could help,” says Bourges. “But when they delivered it, there was stuff that she did like. She gets happy when they come.”
