Vidant Chowan Hospital Collects Healthy Food for Pantry

Nov. 30, 2012 - PRLog -- Vidant Chowan Hospital Transitional Care recently collected 220 pounds of healthy non-perishable food for the Edenton-Chowan Food Pantry.  Donations of food and money were collected from employees and visitors at Vidant Chowan Hospital during the month of November.  Unlike normal food drives, the transitional care team asked for food with low sodium, less sugar and items that were low in fat.  These items will help those in the community who visit the pantry and have congestive heart failure, high blood pressure or diabetes.  

“We are a hospital family that shows love and compassion to our patients and their families all throughout the year,” said Jean Bunch, transitional care nurse and leader of the food drive.  “During the Christmas season our hearts are especially open to helping those less fortunate.  The employees of Vidant Chowan helped stock the Edenton-Chowan Food Pantry freezer with healthy meat selections (through financial donations), as well as provide fresh fruit and vegetables to those in need.”  

Some of the healthy items collected included whole wheat pasta, brown rice, lower sodium crackers, canned vegetables with no salt added, non sugar added fruit juices, oatmeal, whole grain cereal and more.  

Transitional care is a relatively new program at Vidant Chowan that began in the summer of 2011.  Nurses, including Bunch and Mistie Stevenson, work with patients who are at a higher risk of being readmitted after they leave the hospital.  They begin working with those patients while they are in the hospital and continue to provide follow up care when the patient returns home.  The nurses collaborate with the patient and their designated caregiver to create an individualized care plan and emergency management plan that will lead to a positive outcome, eliminating a repeat hospital visit.  Overall they bridge the gap between the care provided in the hospital and the care provided at home.