PHOENIX — DispatchHealth is delivering more than health care during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The company offers house call medical visits and right now, when medical providers arrive to treat people in their homes, they also check to make sure the patients have the food they need in the long-term too.
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic led to a stay-at-home order in Arizona, DispatchHealth has been offering house calls. Part of their service includes a unique model that helps health care workers identify potential health concerns like food insecurity, fall risk and access to transportation.
As providers continued to visit patients through the COVID crisis, they noticed some patients, especially the elderly, were running low on food.
"Our medical teams were noticing that some patients had empty fridges and were running low on pantry staples," said Rebecca Rocho, Phoenix Market Director for DispatchHealth. "Now our medical providers are able to leave them with groceries and provide access to healthy food to improve their overall well-being."
If a patient doesn't have enough food on hand, providers are stocked with bags of groceries to leave with the patient.
The food is donated by a variety of partner organizations including:
People who are interested in donating food can contact Neighbors Helping Neighbors at foodforneighbors@gmail.com.
"The patients have been so grateful and it has warmed our hearts to help make their lives just a little easier during this time," said Rocho.
