LINCOLN – When two-thirds of the residents of Logan County are overweight or obese, it’s apparent a health crisis tsunami is crashing into the local hospital.

Abraham Lincoln Memorial Hospital CEO Dolan Dalpoas clearly saw conventional treatments were not stemming this tidal wave, so his hospital foundation invested $125,000 into a new approach to combine food and wellness as part of its treatment model. Verification the food is locally grown is part of the model.

The hospital opened a new type of farmers market this spring with locally-produced food, health screenings, cooking demonstrations, children’s activities, fitness classes, Food Stamp incentives and wellness programs.

It’s a concerted effort to link health care with the food system.

Dave Bishop, one of the farmer-vendors, said, “This is an attempt to change the entire health care system. It’s a ‘farmacy’ treating food as powerful medicine.”

Bishop, who has been farming organically since the 1980s, said he has not seen any other hospital make this concerted effort to reconnect health care with the food system.

“This is not just a farmers market,” he said. “This could absolutely be game changing. This is an aggressive effort to make the connection between food and health.”

One aspect of the program is verification.

Deborah Cavanaugh-Grant, formerly with the University of Illinois Extension Service, now has her own business New Leaf Consulting. She was hired by the new market to visit each farm, inspect growing conditions and crops and interview each farmer.

On a Thursday in mid-May, Cavanaugh-Grant toured the farm of Cyndy Ash south of Bloomington. They inspected field crops, her high-tunnel hoop houses, her alpaca pasture and her goat barn.

“My goal is to see in the field what each farmer is selling,” Cavanaugh-Grant said.  “Our goal is transparency.”

She said a series of articles in the Tampa Bay Times documented the disconnect between farm-to-table restaurants and the farms they claim to patronize. The newspaper found many restaurants may have ordered local produce once years earlier but kept the promotion on the menu despite switching to other suppliers.

Cavanaugh-Grant said, “Our goal is a farmer-vendor market with transparency. I will check the stands at the market to be sure what is there was grown on the farm.”

Ash has been farming for several years. She has a bachelor’s degree in nursing, an M.B.A. degree and another master’s in divinity. The idea of transparency and the authenticity of chemical-free farming are paramount with her.

Bishop, who farms near Atlanta, Ill., also welcomes verification.

“It establishes your credibility. When states pass ag gag laws, the farmer is saying eat my food but if you come and look at how I grow your food, I’ll sue you,” he said.

“We are saying come and see how we grow your food. That’s the story.”

Angie Stoltzenburg, manager of marketing and community partnerships at Abraham Lincoln Memorial Hospital Foundation, said, “This is more than a market. It’s a wellness destination. We have found that obesity is the root cause of many health problems in Logan County from cardiovascular to diabetes to cancers. We are higher than the state average. Our goal is to change that by making the healthy choice the easy choice.

“The shocking truth in Logan County is that one in four low-income pre-schoolers are already obese.”

The market is located on the Logan County fairgrounds across from the hospital. Hours are 8 a.m. to noon Saturdays through Oct. 29.