INDIANAPOLIS — There’s a new effort to make it easier for you to get fruit and vegetables in Indianapolis. Instead of going to the grocery store, you can get it from a locker. 

It is called the IU Health Nutrition Hub, and organizers believe it’s a step in getting people in the community to use “food as medicine” to prevent chronic illnesses like diabetes, heart attacks or strokes.

IU Health, Gleaners, the American Heart Association and Purdue University are teaming up in the effort to build a healthier community.

The lockers can be found inside IU Health Methodist Hospital on Indianapolis’ near north side, making healthier foods and meals more accessible in an area that studies have shown are needed.

The app is like other grocery store ordering systems. The shopper will choose a date and a time window for pickup. An email with a QR code will be sent to the shopper’s phone with information about which locker has the groceries and when to pick them up.

Only people with the code can get in the locker.

Patients with IU Health will get first dibs at enrollment to this program. Then, it will expand to neighborhoods downtown.

A three-year, $1 million grant from IU Health’s Community Impact Investment Fund will support the project. The goal is to get rid of any barriers for people in accessing fresh, nutritious food.