Farm Time! -- June 24

We started our Wednesday morning with class -- the focus was on learning a bit about the Republic of Ireland's healthcare system and talking about food as a social determinant of health.  Much like the US, Ireland has more of a two-tiered system -- if you have insurance, you can pay for quicker and higher levels of access to healthcare.  What's interesting, though, is that the Irish identified a need for change AND started working together as a government toward that goal.  While they are still working on it (COVID put a wrench in their plans, like so many things), the Irish are making progress toward their universal healthcare system, Slaintecare (https://about.hse.ie/our-work/slaintecare-our-strategy-for-improving-irelands-healthcare-system/). 

The government publishes an update each year and in the 2025 update (https://www.gov.ie/en/department-of-health/press-releases/minister-for-health-publishes-the-path-to-universal-healthcare-sl%C3%A1intecare-programme-for-government-2025-sl%C3%A1intecare-2025/), they highlighted 3 ongoing priority areas: 

• improving access to health and social care services
• improving service quality for patients and service users
• increasing capacity of the health and social care service

One thing I found particularly interesting is their move toward a more integrated digital system.  At the moment, it seems to me like Ireland is a bit behind the US in terms of electronic health record (EHR) adoption and integration.  It's a good reminder that even when we get frustrated with our own system, there are some things we're really good at (like technology!).  

The other thing that struck me is that cost is not one of their priority areas -- when we think about US healthcare, we're always talking about cost as one of the main drivers of what we do.  By contrast, there is an assumption that paying what is needed to cover all residents is what you do if you're going to have a universal system (and that's done through taxes).  I always enjoy dialoguing with students about whether paying for healthcare through taxes at a higher rate is more or less expensive than the piecemeal way we pay for it in the US.  

Our other topic for the day was FOOD!  Food access, quality, and cost play such a huge role in what people eat -- and what impact that hos on their own health (and the health of local communities).  It's easy to say "people should eat healthier and they'll be healthier", but if they don't have access to fresh food or the ability to pay for it -- it's not fair to categorize that as a personal problem, but rather it is a societal one.  

We took a field trip in the afternoon to Airfield Estate (https://www.airfield.ie/).  At the most basic level, it's an urban farm with an emphasis on sustainability and education.   It kind of reminded me of many of the orchards and farms in Kentucky -- farm to table for sure.  The restaurant was HOPPING -- we didn't eat there, but it seemed like the place to be! (And yes, that is an EGG VENDING MACHINE where you can get eggs from the farm to take home with you!)

 

The original owners were also very invested in health -- check out the poster below: 

As we toured around the farm, I was very impressed by the focus on an inclusive environment for all -- the farm has an "autism certification."

They also had a really cool 5 senses trail where you could smell, taste, see, etc. different plants on the grounds.

 

After the tour, we had a cooking class in their learning kitchen.  We made a yummy zucchini/squash pasta and double chocolate zucchini muffins.  Everything was delicious!  I loved that as we were walking back to the tram, one of the students commented that they really enjoyed taking what we learned in class and putting it into action (and that they could take the skills and the recipes home with them!). The farm does similar programs with students from within the city to help them see where their food comes from and learn some basic cooking skills -- they described a "Breakfast Club" that sounded like an innovative program.

 

It was a great day overall -- and Thursday has us on the way to the University of Galway for a conference.