Hurley Children’s Center: Connecting Families to Farmers’ Market & Healthy Choices

The Hurley Children’s Center is helping Flint’s youngest residents develop an appreciation for health and wellness.

In fact, the dietitian at the Hurley Children’s Center has a prescription for every patient who passes through the door: fruits and vegetables.

Thanks to a generous donation of $100,000 from the Rite Aid Foundation, the Hurley Children’s Center, located inside the Flint Farmers’ Market, is able to provide all infants and children at well child and sick visits with a $10 fruit and vegetable prescription to use at the market.

Each patient is also provided with age-appropriate nutrition education. When patients are 18 months old, MyPlate — the nutrition guide recommended by the USDA Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion — is introduced, focusing on food groups, portion size according to age, and healthy food options. The dietitian is also consulted on any condition-specific nutritional needs of patients, such as food allergies, failure to thrive and hypertension.

Patients and families can tour the farmer’s market with the clinic’s dietitian to learn more about local produce and everyday healthy nutrition choices. The rows and rows of fresh fruit and vegetables on the main floor of the Flint Farmer’s Market help reinforce the nutritional recommendations.

This effort not only encourages healthy eating habits but makes it easy for young patients and their families to purchase and enjoy nutritious fresh fruits and vegetables.