Salt Lake City, UT — MountainStar Healthcare announced that four of its Utah hospitals participated in the Healthy Food for Healthier Tomorrows Food and Nutrition Drive organized by HCA Healthcare, with one earning an additional cash prize for their local food bank.
MountainStar Healthcare is a Utah health network with more than 60 sites of care from Logan to Payson, and is part of HCA Healthcare, one of the nation's leading healthcare providers. HCA Healthcare invited its hospitals in 20 states to participate in a food drive benefitting local food banks, and four Utah hospitals collected an estimated 2,400 pounds of food to help Utahns in their time of need.
“Our colleagues and community members were excited to come together this holiday season to help families dealing with food insecurity,” said Richard Spuhler, chief executive officer at Brigham City Community Hospital. “We're proud to serve Utahns every day, both by bringing high-quality healthcare services to our communities, and through efforts like this that demonstrate our commitment to improving more lives in more ways - inside and outside our hospital.”
Brigham City Community Hospital collected food for the Box Elder Community Pantry. Cache Valley Hospital collected food for Citizens Against Physical and Sexual Abuse as well as the Cache Community Food Bank. St. Mark's Hospital collected items for the Utah Food Bank, and Timpanogos Regional Hospital collected donations for the Food & Care Coalition.
Additionally, Brigham City Community Hospital's creative food sculpture design earned a $10,000 grant from the HCA Healthcare Foundation to the Box Elder Community Pantry. Each participating hospital created a food sculpture with their donated items, and the winning sculpture from each of HCA Healthcare's 15 divisions received a $10,000 gift to share with the charity of their choice. The 40-bed facility in Brigham City won for a sculpture of a heart with the phrase “Care Like Family” displayed over photos of hospital staff members.
“We were so thrilled to be able to present the Box Elder Community Pantry with an additional gift to help them provide for more families in our community,” Spuhler added.
Officials from Brigham City Community Hospital notified the Box Elder Community Pantry of the donation at a meeting with hospital colleagues on Dec. 15, and will present the organization with a ceremonial check.
Food insecurity — the lack of consistent access to enough food to have an active, healthy lifestyle — affects 1 in 10 American families. The United States Department of Agriculture reports that 13.5 million U.S. households were food insecure at some point in 2021. Nutrition experts advise that food insecurity and poor nutrition may lead to obesity - a major risk factor for heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, diabetes and many cancers.
