FeelGoodFood Project

FeelGoodFood is a major initiative of MOWAA through which we work with local Meals On Wheels programs and sponsoring insurance or hospital organizations to provide home-delivered meals and telephone reassurance contacts to seniors upon their discharge from hospitals and other inpatient facilities, helping to substantially reduce post-discharge readmissions and other healthcare costs.

MOWAA subcontracts with local meal programs to provide these services to patients who elect to take advantage of the program. Packages of ten meals are made available by MOWAA to local meal programs for distribution. In addition to delivering the meals, the local meal program thereafter makes a series of follow-up telephone reassurance calls to the recipients to check on their well-being. Many of the individuals who participate in FeelGoodFood have been referred for evaluation for participation in ongoing programs provided by the local Meals On Wheels organization, which may include nutrition, transportation, food stamp, shopping or other services. Many of these individuals would never have known about the availability of these valuable senior services had it not been for the FeelGoodFood Project. FeelGoodFood services are only available in certain areas where a sponsoring organization has made arrangements with MOWAA.

Project Benefits:

1. The program has had a significant impact on reducing overall post-discharge healthcare care costs, and specifically with respect to reducing readmissions and emergency room visits for participating seniors.
   
   
2. The initial contact with the local Meals On Wheels programs has proven to be the access point for many frail individuals to other services that support their lives in the community.
   
   
3. The project has raised public awareness about the connection between proper nutrition (delivered through Meals On Wheels) and health, about MOWAA and its mission to end senior hunger, and about the sponsoring organization’s commitment to its own patients and to the support of MOWAA’s efforts.
   
   
4. Through the program, we have begun to demonstrate how proper nutrition contributes to the recovery and well-being of senior clients.
   
   
5. FeelGoodFood provides an ongoing source of revenue to local meal programs that are paid on a per capita basis for providing the services. These revenues in turn help to support meals for other seniors in the community.