Now, she won't have to worry about it anymore.
That is because Natividad and Everyone's Harvest set up a certified farmers market just outside the hospital's busy outpatient entrance as part of the hospital's employee health and wellness programs. The market is meant to promote healthy eating habits among hospital patients.
"This is much more convenient," Bladow said, as she browsed through organic produce vendor booths while clutching a bag of strawberries destined to be dipped in chocolate. Bladow was among a few dozen hospital employees and others who wandered through the market during its inaugural session Wednesday.
The market held a low-key grand opening about noon with a ribbon-cutting, comments by Natividad CEO Harry Weis and hospital administrator Andrea Rosenberg, coordinator of the health and wellness program, and a performance by Ke Akua Kiakahi Hula Ohana dance troupe.
The market's hours are from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesdays through Oct. 27. It will accept electronic benefit transfers and WIC coupons.
But the real stars were the more than half dozen vendors who set up booths bursting with everything from organic eggs, lettuce, chard and nopales (cactus) to strawberries, raspberries and prickly pear, as well as fresh flowers.
Two booths sponsored by the Network for a Healthy California, including one dedicated to a "Latino campaign," offered information about how to eat healthier and quit smoking, as well as healthy recipes.
Weis said the market is a sign of the "serious commitment to health and wellness among all our county employees," especially those who work on the county's Natividad campus, which includes headquarters for the health department, sheriff's department, emergency response, and the jail.
"I think we all need to focus on wellness these days," he said. "This is just a small start."
In addition to county employees, Rosenberg said Natividad serves a "special population," including poor and Latino residents, that often has less access to healthy choices than others. Now, she said, people who visit the hospital won't have to make another trip to a farmers market.
"What a great opportunity to expose our patients and employees to healthy foods," she said.
The market is being operated by Everyone's Harvest, a nonprofit organization that runs the Marina, Pacific Grove and Greenfield farmers markets, and managed by Jessica McKillip.
McKillip said the new venture is based on a concept started by Kaiser Permanente, which set up dozens of markets at hospitals and other medical facilities in four states. This is the first time it has been tried in Monterey County, she said.
"It's an exciting development because this is where such a large amount of the nation's produce is grown, here in the Salinas Valley," she said. "Now people will have more access to (the produce)."
McKillip said the market is subsidized by the hospital in an effort to keep costs affordable.
Efren Avalos, a Salinas resident who totes organic produce from his Hollister-based family farm to markets as far away as Berkeley and the Monterey Peninsula, said he was impressed by the turnout for the Natividad market's first day. Avalos said he was invited to sell at the new market by Everyone's Harvest officials and immediately agreed.
He said another market dedicated to "promoting health in the community and getting employees to eat healthier" is always a good thing.
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Farmers Market Opens at California HospitalOriginally from: http://www.nursinglink.monster.com/news/articles/13219-farmers-market-opens-at-california-hospital
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