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Stillwater Medical Group clinics participating in Rx program for fruits and vegetables

Clinics to offer $10 prescriptions for local grocery stores  

[Stillwater, Minn.] Beginning this month, children who visit Stillwater Medical Group clinics in Mahtomedi, Somerset and Stillwater, as well as Westfields Hospital & Clinic in New Richmond, Wisc., will not only get a check-up and preventive care, they will also have the opportunity to receive a $10 PowerUp prescription (Rx) to buy fruits and vegetables at Cub Foods, Family Fresh grocery stores or the Westfields Farmers’ Market.

“Fruits and vegetables are a key to healthy family eating,” said Andrew Dorwart, MD, St. Croix Valley Medical Director. “The PowerUp prescription program is a way to help make it a little easier to get more fruits and vegetables.”

The fruit and vegetable Rx program runs through October, and is based on research linking consumption of fruits and vegetables to improved health. In a random survey of local families in 2014, less than half of parents reported that their children eat five or more fruits and vegetables each day.

The program, which began two years ago as a pilot program at the HealthPartners clinics in Hugo and White Bear Lake, was expanded this year to include the Stillwater Medical Group clinics and Westfields Hospital & Clinic. An estimated 1,200 St. Croix Valley families are expected to get a prescription for fruits and vegetables this year. Funding for the prescription program in the St. Croix Valley is provided by the Lakeview Health and Westfields Hospital foundations.

In addition to the fruit and vegetable Rx program, PowerUp, yumPower and BearPower School Challenges provide a fun program that includes tracking how many fruits and vegetables kids eat. Last year, more than 24,000 kids at 63 schools participated in the program; fruit and vegetable tracking increased by approximately 10 percent during the School Challenges.