Welcoming our New FoodRx Program Intern Rachel Aruldas: Empowering Health through Nutrition

We are pleased to announce that People’s Center Clinics & Services is partnering with the Minneapolis Health Department and Brightside Produce to implement a FoodRx program that aims to build sustainable food access programming through fresh produce deliveries and nutritional education. We are so excited to have a new intern, Rachel Aruldas, to assist our team with patient recruitment, program onboarding, and educational programming.  

Rachel originally came to People’s Center as a volunteer in 2022. Rachel has worked on multiple projects during her time at the clinic, including a project focused on connecting with patients about missed appointments. Rachel interacted with hundreds of patients to determine how we as a clinic can better support our patients with transportation difficulties, improved communication, and more streamlined rescheduling services. With this experience, Rachel brings impressive knowledge of and experience with our patient base as well as our clinical staff.  

Rachel will support our Dietician, Kelly Coughlin, and Case Manager, Priscilla Brown-Carrington in recruiting chronically ill and food-insecure patients to the program. The program will span six months and connect patients with Brightside Produce to deliver bundles of free fresh produce to patients’ homes each week. Rachel will work alongside our staff members to develop nutrition education materials such as what kinds of foods to eat to lower inflammation and how to incorporate nutritious produce in everyday meals. Case Managers will assist patients in navigating various state and federal food benefit programs and identifying other sources of produce and shelf-stable foods in their respective neighborhoods.  

We can’t wait to work on this project with our incredible teams and partners to reinvigorate food access programming at our clinic!