Griffin Hospital and the Yale-Griffin PRC are partnering to offer a healthcare provider-based produce prescription program (PPR) (co-designed with community partners and residents) to low-income residents of Connecticut’s Lower Naugatuck Valley (LNV) who receive care from Griffin Hospital and/or the Griffin Faculty Physicians practice, and who have prediabetes or type 2 diabetes. The goal is to improve their food security, diet quality, cardio-metabolic health outcomes, and healthcare costs.

Disparities in access to healthy foods can lead to disparities in obesity, diabetes, overall health, and quality of life. Produce prescription programs with incentives to buy fruits and vegetables can help improve participants’ food security and nutritional status, which can help reduce health disparities resulting from differential access to healthy foods.

The project team will recruit 134 adults with pre-diabetes or type 2 diabetes. We will randomly assign 67 to a PPR intervention and 67 to a delayed intervention control group.

The 6-month PPR will include vouchers to buy fresh fruits and vegetables, along with nutrition education. The vouchers’ monthly value will be $40 per household, with an extra $5 per additional household member. The specific nutrition education and the voucher redemption sites will be determined based on the formative research.

To qualify for this study, you must be:

• Age 18 years or older
• Resident of the Lower Naugatuck Valley
• Patient at Griffin Hospital and/or Griffin Faculty Physicians practice
• Eligible for Medicaid and/or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
• Diagnosis of prediabetes or type 2 diabetes
• Able to communicate in English or Spanish