Promoting Wellness, Health and 
Access to High-Quality Health Care

New Studies to Help Food Benefit Recipients Buy More Produce

The Aetna Foundation has awarded grants to Fair Food Network and Altarum Institute to conduct studies designed to help recipients of federal food programs purchase more nutrient-dense foods.

Fair Food Network will undertake a cluster study of economic incentives used at farmers' markets around the country that double the amount of produce beneficiaries can buy with their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits. Altarum Institute will study the barriers that American Indians living on tribal lands face in buying fruits, vegetables and other nutrient-dense foods that are prescribed by the federal government's Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC).

Our news release provides more information about the two studies.

Aetna Foundation to Sponsor Special Journal on Obesity

Meharry Medical College's The Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved (JHCPU), one of the nation’s leading health journals, will tackle America's obesity epidemic in a special volume, Obesity Interventions with Underserved U.S. Populations: Evidence and Directions, scheduled for early 2013. Sponsored by the Aetna Foundation, this peer-reviewed special publication will feature scholarly papers that highlight a range of successful anti-obesity interventions in minority and other medically underserved communities in the U.S. Among the areas of focus will be changes to land use and transportation; accessibility of healthful foods in low-income neighborhoods; food options at schools, office cafeterias and other institutions; physical activity programs; and outreaches to the food industry. JHCPU’s editor, Virginia Brennen, PhD, is overseeing the project.

New Website Addresses Improvements to SNAP

The SNAP to Health website is now live. Made possible with support from the Aetna Foundation, this interactive website provides a forum for dialogue on strategies to promote health and prevent obesity in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps. The site also serves as an online hub for health and nutrition information, including recipes and interactive tools. The Snap to Health website is part of a larger initiative by the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress to make science-based policy recommendations to improve nutrition for the 46 million low-income participants of SNAP.

Connecticut Health Foundations Discuss Collaboration, Upcoming Study

Representatives from several Connecticut Health Foundations were interviewed recently on WTIC-AM’s “Face Connecticut” public affairs program about their joint founding of a new 15-month study to assess the state of health care quality in Connecticut. The first of its kind in the state, the survey will solicit patient views on their health, doctors and access to care. The interview, now available as a podcast features Gillian Barclay, DDS, DrPH, vice president of the Aetna Foundation; Patricia Baker, president and CEO of the Connecticut Health Foundation; and Frances Padilla, executive vice president of the Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut.

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Congratulations to medical student Monique Chambers, who was awarded an Aetna Foundation/NMF Healthcare Leadership Program scholarship in June, for being named one of five students nationwide to receive a $5,000 Herbert W. Nickens Medical Student Scholarship recently from the Association of American Medical Colleges.

Aetna Foundation’s Gillian Barclay with WTIC-AM’s Sam Gingerella, host of "Face Connecticut."