St. Charles adds access to healthy, affordable foods as priority after report shows surge in need for Central Oregonians
Many Central Oregonians struggle to access affordable healthy food and that need is increasing, according to results from the 2025 Community Healthy Needs Assessment recently produced by St. Charles Health System. The survey showed 24% of Central Oregonians said better access to affordable healthy food is the factor that would most improve their overall quality of life, ranking higher than affordable housing (19%) or living wage jobs (11%) and marking a significant increase from the 2022 report, when 15% of respondents picked affordable, healthy food as their top concern.
To address this growing need within the community, St. Charles Health System is adding improving access to healthy, affordable foods as a focus for its Community Benefit efforts. This means for the next three years, St. Charles will direct thousands in grant funding to community organizations that target access to affordable healthy food as well as organizations that focus on fostering a sense of belonging and reducing loneliness (which has been the health system’s priority focus for the past three years and will continue through at least 2028).
Carlos Salcedo, manager of community partnerships for St. Charles, says the two priority areas make a lot of sense together. “As people, we know that food and community often go together, and sharing a meal can bring people together and help reduce loneliness. We are excited to fund projects that serve these important priorities and meet the needs we are seeing in our community.”
This priority, approved by St. Charles Board of Directors in February, is also driving other efforts in the health system focused on access to healthy food. Kelly Ornberg, manager of clinical nutrition services for St. Charles, is launching a new program named Fuel in March aimed at helping patients with a malnutrition diagnosis. Ornberg says St. Charles dietitians work hard to provide healthy foods to these patients while in the hospital, but many patients with malnutrition struggle to secure affordable, healthy food when they return home.
“That’s one of the reasons these patients end up being readmitted to the hospital at a high rate. About 11 percent of patients with malnutrition end up being readmitted to the hospital within 30 days. Our goal is to change that trajectory,” said Ornberg. “With this new program, we are able to provide patients with 30 days’ worth of shelf-stable supplements for free, so they are able to get some basic nutrition when they return home.”
Ornberg says St. Charles outpatient dietitians follow up with these patients after discharge to connect them with community resources for longer-term support. With the initial funding, Ornberg expects they will be able to help about 500 patients across all four St. Charles hospitals.
“It feels so good to be able to do something to help bridge that gap,” said Ornberg.
