(Submitted Photo)

EDMESTON – The current COVID-19 pandemic concerns everyone as daily routines have changed, social interactions have decreased, and accessing basic staples is a challenge.  However, some Otsego County neighbors are being helped in meeting their healthy food needs by Pathfinder Produce, the mobile market operated by Pathfinder Village’s Adult Day Services program.

Since last May, the Pathfinder Produce large box truck -- featuring bright, larger-than-life fruits and vegetables -- has been traveling Otsego’s roads, bringing fresh “Feel Good” produce boxes to individuals in food desert communities every week.  The produce, purchased through grants from the Leatherstocking Collaborative Health Partners, goes to pre-screened individuals who have significant medical diagnoses and no reliable access to fresh foods.

This voucher-based program is part of a larger state Department of Health initiative, the Delivery System Reform Incentive Payment (DSRIP) program, a multi-year effort to restructure Medicaid payments and improve healthcare delivery by reducing avoidable hospital use and emergency room visits.

Pathfinder Produce currently delivers to 100 households in the county, and directly supports over 280 individuals through the food vouchers.  With these deliveries, families have greater access to fresh produce and can extend their food budgets; the deliveries also help families stay-at-home in compliance with Governor Andrew Cuomo’s “New York State on PAUSE" executive order which went into effect on March 22.

“More than ever, people now need social supports and we are in a position to help,” said Paul C. Landers, Pathfinder’s president and CEO. “Not only are the essentials such as getting fresh food to people important but continuing to deliver positive messaging that we care is just as important.”

In restructuring operations during the state’s mandated shutdown, Village administrators thought continuing Pathfinder Produce deliveries would be vital for current enrollees and would continue paid work for valued Village frontline staff.  Generally, the ADS staff is assisted in produce operations by their colleagues with intellectual disabilities, who also provide recipes, cooking tips and colorful pieces of art each week.  Since mid-March, program participants have had to remain at their homes, due to individual medical concerns and transmission rates of the virus.

In general, the Mobile Market program builds social connections and encourages recipients to eat more fresh produce as part of a healthy lifestyle; at present, the staff arranges for socially distant deliveries to comply with Best Practices.  All Pathfinder Village staff are trained in appropriate safe food handling and other protocols to prevent the transmission of the COVID-19 virus.

“Like everyone, we hope that we can resume our normal operations soon for both Pathfinder Produce and our Adult Day Services at Pathfinder -- but only when it is safe for us to do so,” said Tina Heyduk, the Village’s senior director of Support Services.  “We miss the direct engagement we have with our neighbors who take part in our produce deliveries and with the individuals whom we serve each day at Pathfinder through ADS.”