Securing food for our community

When Mary, a Humana At Home care coordinator, was calling members to check on their health and well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic, she connected with Alice, a 75-year-old living alone. Coronavirus intensified Alice’s existing anxiety and depression, combining with her underlying health issues like COPD, asthma and kidney disease to leave her in a troubling situation. Unable to leave home with just two days of food left, Alice told Mary her gas had been shut off.

Mary moved quickly, identifying and coordinating community resources to help Alice. She connected Alice with her utility provider to get her gas turned back on, and Humana helped her get healthy meals delivered directly to her door. Mary also worked with Alice to ensure she knew about available resources to get food, helping reduce her anxiety. Now, Alice can continue to stay safe at home and has peace of mind knowing she has a reliable source of food.

About 37 million people across the country are food insecure, making it one of the biggest drivers of poor health -- particularly with older Americans. Unfortunately, more people are struggling with food security during coronavirus. Feeding America explains that often, families don’t have enough money to purchase a 14-day supply of food or don’t have enough savings to cover bills if their income is compromised.

Prior to the pandemic, Humana identified food insecurity as a barrier to health, and we established partnerships with Feeding America and food banks across the country to help maintain access to healthy food. Now, we have deepened our commitment to ensuring our members can put food on the table.

Here are some of the new actions Humana is taking to address food insecurity for our members during coronavirus:

●     Expanding access to food and meal delivery by helping our members in need connect to resources. As of this week, we are receiving approximately 1,700 meal requests a day from members in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, and we have been able to respond to those needs by coordinating with national, regional and local partners.

●     Ensuring our regular outreach calls to members include questions about food insecurity and acting quickly to get help to those who need it most. Mary and Alice are a perfect illustration of this personalized care.

●     Leaning on our local and regional partners who are deeply connected within their communities. In New Orleans, we helped connect Second Harvest Food Bank to vans and drivers. They delivered meals to more than 800 homes in just three days, with a particular focus sending food to the most vulnerable among us including seniors, people with chronic illnesses and people with physical disabilities who need more support to ensure they can stay safe and healthy.

●     Deepening our Feeding America relationship with a $450,000 donation from The Humana Foundation and mobilizing Humana team members for volunteer opportunities. If you would like to join us and help, visit their web site.

A crisis, such as coronavirus, has a disproportionate impact on our most vulnerable neighbors. Many individuals and public and private entities have stepped up to ensure we get through this pandemic together. At Humana, we continue working hard to support our members and address their health needs. We are covering their costs of testing and treatment for coronavirus; expanding access to telehealth services so they can receive more care at home; and set up a member support line with specially trained team to answer their questions about coronavirus.

One of the most basic needs is ensuring people have food to sustain them during these unprecedented and difficult times. We are helping here, too. One call at a time.