Take the

              Buy Local Challenge 2012

                 

 

 

Two Ways to Participate:

  • Hospitals and other health care facilities can pledge to serve at least one local food* each day during Buy Local Week from July 2012
  • Health care employees, patients and community members can pledge to eat at least one local food* each day during Buy Local Week from July 2012.  Hospitals can encourage individual sign-ons.

     Sign up today!

New this year

1)   Health Care Executive Buy Local Challenge – Hospitals in MD, DC and N. VA whose entire executive leadership takes the pledge to eat at least 1 local food* each day during Buy Local Week will be recognized to the media and in several newsletters and online forums. Download the marketing tool entitled Sign Up Sheet – for Executive Leaders to gather sign-ons from the executive leaders at your hospital and host an Executive Celebrity Cook-Off for a fun way to further engage employees and the community in eating local.

2)   Health Care Without Harm has adopted Maryland Hospitals for a Healthy Environment’s (MD H2E) campaign to promote the Buy Local Challenge to hospitals and individual health care providers.  The Buy Local Challenge is now a national campaign to further engage the health care sector around the country in jump-starting or expanding and tracking their local food purchases– a good first step in developing a local, sustainable food service which protects human health and the environment while supporting local farmers and the local economy.

 

Track Your Purchases and Be Recognized

Health Care Without Harm will recognize all hospitals that participate. Hospitals leading in local food purchases during Buy Local Week will also be recognized. Maryland Hospitals for a Healthy Environment (MD H2E) will aggregate the dollar amount of all health care facility local food purchases for local food served during Buy Local Week in Maryland, the District of Columbia and Northern Virginia to report a total dollar amount for the Mid-Atlantic region.  Please track the total dollar amount and percentage of locally grown or raised foods that your health care facility purchases and serves during Buy Local Week from July 21-29, 2012. Health Care Without Harm & MD H2E will contact your facility after you register so you can submit these totals immediately following the challenge.

 

Get More Recognition

MD H2E will also recognize hospitals in Maryland, the District of Columbia and Northern Virginia that

  1. Serve local sustainable meat and poultry
  2. Serve local certified organic foods
  3. Have the highest employee, patient and community member pledges
  4. Demonstrate Green Team engagement
  5. Serve other local sustainable foods including dairy, seafood, etc.
  6. NEW THIS YEAR: engage the entire executive leadership to take the pledge to eat at least 1 local food each day during Buy Local Week.
  7. SEND US YOUR PICTURES & STORIES of your hospital’s Buy Local activities by Friday, August 3 to sustainablefoods@son.umaryland.edu so your hospital can be included in the MD H2E Food Newsletter – Buy Local Challenge Edition.

 

Use the Marketing Tools and Resources

For marketing tools and resources, the *definition of local food (what’s included and what’s not included), and more information, visit http://www.healthyfoodinhealthcare.org/buylocalchallenge.php.

 

* Definition of Local Food + Maryland Law

1)   See Health Care Without Harm’s definition of local food.

2)  Maryland Law requires all businesses that advertise raw meat, eggs, fish, fruits, vegetables, shellfish and processed dairy products as local or being locally grown, regionally grown or produced, or otherwise represented as having originated close by, must have point-of-sale signage indicating the state of its origin.  See the “Frequently Asked Questions” page by the Maryland Department of Agriculture:  http://www.mda.state.md.us/pdf/buylocalfaq.pdf for more information.

 

Resources for Employees and Community Members:

There are several places you can find local foods to fulfill your pledge:  your hospital cafeteria; a local farmers’ markets; a nearby farm; a restaurant that uses local foods; a grocery store that sells local foods.

Maryland Farmers’ Markets Maryland Farms (search by zip code) Eat Well Guide (for restaurants and grocery stores with local foods Local Harvest Sustainable Table Food Trader (to find or list the local foods you need or have) Pick Your Own Farms Seasonal Recipes (from Fresh Farm Markets)

 

Hosted by

The Healthy Food in Health Care Program of Health Care Without Harm  &  Maryland Hospitals for a Healthy Environment

 

More information

National Health Care Buy Local Challenge

List of Healthy Food in Health Care Regional Organizers in the U.S

 

For the Maryland regional organizer, contact:

Louise Mitchell Sustainable Foods Program Manager,  Maryland Hospitals for a Healthy Environment Regional Organizer, Healthy Food in Health Care Program,  Health Care Without Harm University of Maryland School of Nursing 410-706-1924    office 443-257-3209   cell Lmitc001@son.umaryland.edu www.healthyfoodinhealthcare.org www.mdh2e.org

 

For Information on the Buy Local Challenge, visit: www.buy-local-challenge.com.