Addressing Food Insecurity
Through BayCare's Community Health Needs Assessment, access to food became one of the community's top health priorities, and one of the initiatives that grew out of it was a simple idea: screen hospital patients for food insecurity, and make sure those who needed it went home with food.
Service & User Journey Design
BayCare • 2021
The Challenge
We had to reach the right patients, ask sensitive questions well, and get food into their hands, all without adding to staff workloads that were already full.
Respecting Staff Time
In every meeting with hospital leaders and staff, the same concern came up: their routines were already busy. If the program felt like too much extra work, it would be hard to implement.
Asking The Hard Questions
Admitting you can't afford food isn't easy. Patients might feel embarrassed, worry about the cost, or wonder what the point was if the food would run out in a few days.
Reaching The Right Patients
Focused on repeat patients with chronic conditions like diabetes and COPD. Many of them may not have the resources to stay healthy, which can bring them back to the hospital.
User Journey Mapping
BayCare / 2021
Service Design
Through BayCare's Community Health Needs Assessment, access to food became one of the community's top health priorities, and one of the initiatives that grew out of it was a simple idea: screen hospital patients for food insecurity, and make sure those who needed it went home with food.
Addressing food insecurity
the challenge
We had to reach the right patients, ask sensitive questions well, and get food into their hands, all without adding to staff workloads that were already full.
Reaching The Right Patients
Focused on repeat patients with chronic conditions like diabetes and COPD. Many of them may not have the resources or nutrition knowledge to stay healthy at home, which can bring them back to the hospital.
Asking The Hard Questions
Admitting you can't afford food isn't easy. Patients might feel embarrassed, not understand why a hospital is asking about food, worry about the cost, or wonder what the point was if the food would run out in a few days.
Respecting Staff Time
In every meeting with hospital leaders and staff, the same concern came up: their routines were already busy. If the program felt like too much extra work, it would be hard to implement.
OVERVIEW
Through BayCare's Community Health Needs Assessment, access to food became one of the community's top health priorities, and one of the initiatives that grew out of it was a simple idea: screen hospital patients for food insecurity, and make sure those who needed it went home with food.
people live in food insecure households
1 in 8
The Process
Our guiding principle was to build around the people and routines already in place, not to add new ones.
The Service journey map
The service blueprint follows the patient and the staff behind them across five stages, showing how each step was built into work that was already happening.
people live in food insecure households
1 in 8
reflection
What I'm proudest of is how many people this program has reached since it launched. Seeing a process I helped design grow into thousands of bags going home with patients is the kind of impact I want my work to have.
Looking back, I can see the program was shaped by good design instincts: listen to the people, meet them where they are, and remove friction wherever you can. At the time, I captured that thinking in a simple process flow because I didn't yet have the UX tools or knowledge to map it fully. Building this service blueprint now let me show what that flow left out: how patients felt at each step and how every decision on the staff side answered a real concern.
The Impact
The program now offers two kinds of bags: one for patients who can cook and a ready-to-eat version.
Types of Bags
2
The bags are available to inpatients and emergency department patients across all 16 BayCare hospitals.
BayCare Hospitals
16
According to BayCare, it has distributed more than 19,000 healing bags since launching in 2021.
Healing Bags
19K
people live in food insecure households
1 in 8
User Research
(01)
I set up meetings between project team, hospital leaders, and external partners like Feeding Tampa Bay, recording every decision and change.
Designing the workflow
I helped map each step, from the moment a patient is flagged to the moment they leave with food in hand.
(02)
Creating the materials
(03)
I built the process flow that introduced the program to hospital staff, using what we learned from leadership and partner meetings.
My Role
I was part of BayCare's Community Benefit team, which carried the program from a CHNA priority to a working process inside our hospitals. My part was turning conversations from user research into one clear workflow that everyone could follow.