How many families participate in your veggie rx program?

• 39 families served in Washington County

What did the process look like before Fresh Connect? And now with Fresh Connect cards?

• Before: the process was very tedious. It entailed hours of counting paper coupons/vouchers and working closely with the busy farmers to clarify any discrepancies.

• NOW: with the Fresh Connect cards the transactions between farmer and participant are almost seamless. We had a few issues at the beginning like with any visa prepaid card. Mayra, the coordinator of the Produce RX program can now review the transactions and balances of each participant online through the Fresh Connect platform.

Things to consider before implementing:

• We are learning so much every week, it is such a new process for us at AM, the participants, the farmers and About Fresh.

• We have been very lucky to work with a great team at About Fresh. They answer any questions we have immediately and work with us through any issues we may have.

• Timing: There is a learning curve to using the cards and logistics of making sure cards arrive before the program. You will need someone reaching out to families The first month of the launch there Mayra did a lot of following up with the participants. Some didn’t receive their cards because of wrong addresses or a very slow postal service.

Lessons learned so far:

• It is important for participants to know how much money is left on their card (they can find out by calling the balance # on the back of the card) because if the card is swiped too many times over-budget,

• Cards can only be swiped 5 times each day

How many families participate in your veggie rx program?

• 78 households enrolled representing 184 people across 4 clinics partners in Douglas County, OR

• Evergreen Family Medicine - 21

• Adapt - 57

• Aviva - 45

• Umpqua Health Alliance - 60

What did the process look like before Fresh Connect? And now with Fresh Connect cards?

• Before: Very similar to what Carla described. It was tedious, time-consuming, and full of room for error from start to finish.

• NOW: Transactions and real-time tracking are smooth. Access to the platform has had a few hiccups but when it works, it works well. There were some delays in participants receiving their Fresh Connect card but otherwise, the system works very well and has already mitigated staff time.

• About Fresh has also been supportive of the creation of materials, trainings for redemption partners, and any troubleshooting needed related to the platform or cards. They also send a monthly redemption report.

Lessons learned during the planning and implementation phase. What resources were involved? How much effort did it take? Who needed to be involved.

• This is a new endeavor for About Fresh and their Fresh Connect program and the pilot is a learning curve for all of us. We've been able to get to the other side of some significant challenges as we figure our systems out together. With flexibility and understanding from one another, we're pleased with the partnership and the development of something that has the potential to improve VeggieRx programs across the country.