“Busy” is a word that makes LaTrese VanBuren laugh. She’s a community health professional at the M Physicians Broadway Family Medicine Clinic in North Minneapolis.
She might also have a chuckle when thinking of herself as a visionary, but as the first full-time community health worker to join M Physicians six years ago, she is. She’s been busy building and growing health programs for her North Minneapolis community.
LaTrese views what she does every day as a neighbor helping her neighbors.
“As a lifelong resident of North Minneapolis, born and raised right here,” she says, “I'm really proud to be working with the community that I live in, who are friends and family, coworkers and classmates.”
Before joining M Physicians, LaTrese worked as a medical assistant. There, she learned about community health work and the ways that non-medical needs can directly impact someone’s health–called Social Determinants of Health.
“Sometimes as much as you want a patient to obtain wellness and be well, you see them coming into the clinic and you understand that there's so many other things that's keeping them from obtaining the wellness,” she explains.
Healthcare providers often know what patients experience at the clinic, but what about outside of the clinic? That’s where LaTrese comes in as a community health professional.
“We need a social connection, we need education, we need trust. And I know I wanted to be the person out there doing all that.”
WHAT NEIGHBORS DO
LaTrese explains that if a healthcare system can help patients access the non-medical services they need following a hospital visit, they’re less likely to go back.
When a clinic patient leaves the hospital, LaTrese calls to check in with them about what they need, from scheduling a follow up appointment to helping answer questions about medicines.
“I can meet our patients right where they're at, and find out what ways I can support them in helping meet the goals that the provider and them are working on.”
After all, checking in to help is what neighbors do.
For LaTrese, sometimes that looks like helping a patient find access to a gym, or connecting patients who are looking for work with career resources.
Other times, it’s meeting patients at the grocery store to help them shop for foods that will be most beneficial for them.
MEET VEGGIERX
In 2024, LaTrese flipped the script. Instead of bringing patients to healthy food options, what if she brought those options to the patients? What if she taught patients how to prepare healthy meals rooted in the culture and heritage they share?
She engaged Hennepin County’s Black and Indigenous Women’s’ Heart Health Initiative and found close partners in Appetite for Change and the University of Minnesota SNAP-ed team to launch VeggieRx at the M Physicians Broadway Family Medicine Clinic.
The program helps patients engage in heart-healthy eating, and it starts with a prescription for fresh produce from the patient’s doctor at the M Physicians Broadway Family Medicine Clinic.
Then, during Minnesota’s growing season, patients who participate in VeggieRx find LaTrese at the clinic or neighborhood events each week handing out bundles of freshly grown vegetables from Appetite for Change.
It started as a program with about 20 participants, but it quickly grew to serve over 100.
At the same time, LaTrese also began organizing community cooking classes at the clinic with the University of Minnesota Women in Ag Network. They used the A Taste of African Heritage Old Ways Curriculum, which teaches traditional African cuisine with low-sodium and plant-based protein ingredients. With chef Ms. Kim and educator Ms. Joyce, the original plan to offer six weekly classes swiftly expanded to 12.
The classes became so popular, not even the stormiest summer evening could keep participants away.
At the end of the class, the clinic also provided participants with the cooking tools and resources they would need to prepare their same meals at home.
GROWING IN 2025
If 2024 was busy for LaTrese, 2025 holds more promise for her work.
With VeggieRx’s success, the Hennepin County Black and Indigenous Women Heart Health Initiative expanded its grant support for the program.
In addition to providing more locally-grown produce, LaTrese plans to triple the number of community cooking classes at the M Physicians Broadway Family Medicine Clinic to 36 throughout the year.
This winter, between appointments with patients, LaTrese is sitting down with Appetites for Change to begin planning their 2025 garden. She doesn’t feel tired, despite all she worked to accomplish for her neighbors in 2024.
She’s ready to do more for the community they share.
“When you are just walking in your purpose when you are really enjoying what you do. I love it,” she says. “I feel really grateful.”
Be on the lookout for more information on VeggieRx and its community cooking classes later this spring.