GREENVILLE, N.C. (WITN) – Eastern North Carolina is a leading area for hypertension and diabetes, according to the ECU College of Allied Health Sciences.

Organizers say it will offer access to healthy ingredients and more knowledge on building a nutritional diet to uninsured, low-income diabetes patients in rural areas through their program, “Farm to Clinic Initiative.”

Yolonda Cristiani, the Executive director of the Hope Clinic said, “We’re stopping that generational curse of this is the way mama did it so now we’ve got to do the same thing, and we’re bringing healthier options to the county that haven’t been there before. The program has allowed a friend or family to come with the patient and so they’re already starting to bring trends back into the community of fresh eating.”

That means delivering fresh produce to rural neighborhoods and educating patients on food and health literacy.

ECU students will also learn how to teach patients about food skills through the program, which they say is a valuable opportunity.

Kensey Tarkington, an ECU kinesiology student who was introduced to the program, shared, “For us, it’s like a learning experience, but to them it’s real and it is their real life, and it is really privileged to be able to help these people. Just feels so lucky to be able to be here.

The program will also offer advice on physical activity that can contribute to a higher quality of life.

ECU says some of the ways the program will teach food and health literacy to diabetes patients will be through portion controlling and healthier ways of cooking such as sauteing and baking instead of frying.

The program also aims to provide simple processes and instructions for cooking so that it is easier to understand more people.

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