MUSC Health Black River Medical Center Emergency Food Box Program becomes lifeline for patients in need

Since its launch in January, the new emergency food pantry at MUSC Health Black River Medical Center has become a lifeline for dozens of families facing food insecurity. Open to any patient in need, the pantry provides essential support for those uncertain about where their next meal will come from. This crucial initiative is made possible through a partnership between MUSC Health, Carolina Canners Inc. and the Lowcountry Food Bank, which stock the pantry with bottled water and food boxes.

A significant contribution from DSM-Firmenich, an international nutrition, fragrance and beauty company with a location in Williamsburg County, has ensured the program's sustainability. Their $200,000 donation will fund the pantry’s food boxes for the next four years, allowing the program to continue supporting the community’s most vulnerable members. As a neighbor to Black River Medical Center, DSM is not only supporting a local health care initiative but also reaffirming its commitment to the well-being of the community it calls home.

MUSC Health’s Benjamin Lamb, M.D., grew up in Lake City and knew there was a need for a program like this. After 21 years of taking care of patients in Lake City, he grew frustrated watching patients struggle to choose between paying for health care and putting food on the table for their families. So he became a driving force in bringing this program to fruition. “This has been one of the best things in my career that we've been able to do because we are meeting people's needs on a level that we've never been able to meet before,” said Lamb. “It's allowed us to really make an intervention in people's lives that goes beyond health care.”

 

Since the program started in January, it has given out 179 food boxes, helping a total of 339 people. Each box contains 25 pounds of nutritious, nonperishable food items, including peanut butter, pasta, rice, beans, canned meat and fruits and vegetables that can feed a family of four for about a week. Lamb said he has seen firsthand the kind of effect that a program like this has had on patients. 

He reflected on one of his patients with a mental health disorder. 

“He and his mom came into the office for his follow-up visit, and I found out during the course of the visit that the mom had been in a bad car accident. She had previously been the breadwinner for the two of them. She's now out of work,” said Lamb. “That was a huge financial strain on that family and also a food insecurity strain. We were able to send them down to Black River, and we were able to give them food boxes to fill that need.”

This food box program has had a tremendous impact not only on patients and their families but also on staff, according to Black River Medical Center’s executive director Allen Abernethy and inpatient nurse manager Loren Graham, R.N. They said the fulfillment of being able to help a patient’s family outside of the hospital walls is powerful. 

“They do get a food box upon each admission, and they'll tell us, ‘You don't know how much this meant to us. We didn't have to worry about choosing to pay for our prescription that I needed for my new heart issue over food.’ So anything that we can do to help them not have to make that decision right at discharge has been amazing,” said Graham.

“I think internally, it impacts our employees, knowing that we do things other than just in the hospital, and that we're actually focused on making the community better,” said Abernethy. 

 

“It's really good for team morale, and it's really good for a small community because folks don't come to small hospitals unless they trust that you deliver quality care. Without the community support in this small hospital, we don't exist. So it's nice we do as much in the community as we can.”

Lamb said he’s proud to work with MUSC Health Black River Medical Center to help change people’s lives in and out of the hospital. 

“I think the biggest thing that I would say is that this is an opportunity that we have to do more than just take care of people's health care. We can take care of people's basic human needs. I want to say how grateful I am to be a part of this program.”