Just Ask Program Launches

A new partnership between the Central Region and ShopRite supermarkets in Wallingford and Southington will connect people across the region to healthier eating. A new program, Just Ask, will take on nutrition-related problems on the front lines, right in the supermarket aisles.

Just Ask aims to help those seeking to live healthier lives by choosing foods with less salt and fat. Just Ask signage has been posted throughout both supermarkets as of Aug. 30 to identify foods that are lower in salt and unhealthy fats in the deli, meat department and prepared food sections. ShopRite employees will also be in these departments to assist customers with choosing healthier foods.

The Central Region’s Community Health Needs Assessments ranks obesity as one of the region’s top health concerns, which has led to an array of community outreach efforts. In an effort to engage the community in health eating, ShopRite was approached and agreed to be a Just Ask grocery partner of the Hartford HealthCare’s Central Region. The Just Ask program was also launched in ShopRite’s Norwich location, partnering with Backus Hospital, earlier this year.

  • “(The Central Region’s) mission is to improve the health of the community. But we can’t do it alone. Partners like ShopRite are critical if we are really going to move the dial on population health, beyond the walls of our hospitals.”

    - Lynn Faria, director of Community Relations

“The Just Ask program fits perfectly with Shop Rite’s focus on helping our customers live healthier lives,” said Donald Drust Jr., owner of the Wallingford and Southington stores. “We are proud to partner with our local hospitals. We already have the healthy food options – this just helps bring more attention to them.”

ShopRite has been an innovator in the effort to improve the health of its communities, putting 130 of its own Registered Dieticians on staff in 23 locations. With the “Just Ask” program in Wallingford and Southington, MidState and HOCC specialists will join them to provide information, cooking demonstrations, screenings, grocery shopping tours and health-conscious seminars in the Shop-Rite pharmacy department.

“(The Central Region’s) mission is to improve the health of the community,” said Lynn Faria, director of Community Relations. “But we can’t do it alone. Partners like ShopRite are critical if we are really going to move the dial on population health, beyond the walls of our hospitals.”

The partnership with ShopRite reinforces Hartford HealthCare’s Connect to Healthier campaign, and will be promoted to patients in brochures, newsletter, ShopRite circulars and online.