ARH launches produce prescription program for Perry County patients
RootedRx now ties Perry County patients with diabetes, hypertension or obesity to fresh produce and shared medical appointments as 6,330 residents face food insecurity.
Appalachian Regional Healthcare has put RootedRx into service in Perry County, linking eligible patients to fresh fruits and vegetables through local farmers markets while folding the benefit into ARH Lifestyle Medicine Shared Medical Appointments. The program is aimed at patients referred by an ARH provider who have diabetes, hypertension or obesity, putting food access directly into the treatment plan for some of the county’s most common chronic conditions.
ARH describes RootedRx as its first formal produce prescription program and a self-funded Food is Medicine initiative. In Perry County, participants do more than pick up produce benefits. They also take part in shared medical appointments built around Lifestyle Medicine, a care model ARH says focuses on whole-food, plant-forward nutrition, regular physical activity, restorative sleep, stress management, avoidance of risky substances and positive social connections.
The county need is clear. Feeding America’s Map the Meal Gap estimates that 6,330 Perry County residents were food insecure in 2023, a rate of 22.7 percent, with an annual food budget shortfall of $3.923 million and an average meal cost of $3.27. U.S. Census Bureau estimates put Perry County’s population at 26,739 in July 2024 and 26,555 in July 2025. Census data also show 24.6 percent of residents under 65 live with a disability and 6.2 percent lack health insurance, figures that help explain why a clinic-linked food program may matter here.
The Perry County rollout is part of a wider ARH push. The health system launched its Lifestyle Medicine service line on Jan. 14, 2026, and says it was the first of its kind in Kentucky. ARH then established a unified Wellness division on April 30, 2026, bringing together community health, employee wellness, Lifestyle Medicine and diabetes education under one umbrella.
ARH has been building public attention around Food is Medicine for nearly two years. More than 250 employees, community members and patients attended an Aug. 13, 2024 event at Hazard ARH Regional Medical Center that included a farmers market and healthy cooking demonstration, and Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner Jonathan Shell signed a National Farmers Market Week proclamation there. ARH later received the SOAR Healthy Communities Award in 2025 for its Food is Medicine initiative.
For Perry County, RootedRx is more than a produce handout. It is a test of whether local food, group care and farm partnerships can make chronic disease easier to manage in a county where the cost of healthy eating remains high and the need is measurable.
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