Pablo Monsivais, PhD, MPH, a professor in the Department of Nutrition and Exercise Physiology at the WSU Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine, highlighted the critical role of nutrition assistance in supporting positive health outcomes and local economies in a recent opinion column for The Spokesman-Review.
Monsivais and co-author Evelyn Whitmer, assistant director for the WSU Extension Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program, discuss research on the impact of the national Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), including a WSU College of Medicine study that found SNAP participation was associated with improved medication adherence and fewer emergency department visits.
“When we protect programs like SNAP, we aren’t just supporting the vulnerable,” they write. “We’re protecting our communities, stabilizing local economies and investing in a healthier, more resilient Washington.”