Ready. Set. Food! Gives Back: Announcing Our Giving Back Program With Memorial Hermann

Learn about how our education and Giving Back partnership with Memorial Hermann Health System will help equip even more babies with the best chance at food freedom.

Ready. Set. Food! is excited to partner with Memorial Hermann Health System to educate parents on the latest food allergy prevention research and give Ready. Set. Food! to low-income families. Through this partnership, we’re helping more families than ever set their babies up for a future of food freedom. Here’s what this partnership involves.

Food Allergy Prevention Education for Parents

Recent guidelines issued by the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology (AAAAI) and the American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology (ACAAI) recommend feeding babies peanut and egg starting at 4-6 months of age to help prevent food allergies from developing. At Memorial Hermann, pediatricians and other health practitioners discuss the importance of early allergen introduction during infants’ well-child visits. 

Parents are educated about how landmark clinical studies and recent medical guidelines support feeding common allergen foods to babies early and often, for the best chance at preventing food allergies. Practitioners also provide coupons for the Ready. Set. Food! multi-allergen feeding system, to make early allergen introduction more accessible. 

Parents can access educational content as part of routine after-visit summaries for babies at key milestones (two, four, six, and nine-month well-child visits). Memorial Hermann has 35,000 births each year. They have a centralized CRM system, so our education can eventually reach every baby being born into their healthcare system.

"With recent studies showing that only 8% of parents were following the new guidelines, it's clear that we need to do more to teach parents about medical guidelines on food allergy prevention,” says Daniel Zakowski, CEO and co-founder of Ready. Set. Food! “If we want to have the biggest impact possible, and help as many families prevent food allergies as we can, there are two important components: education about food allergy prevention, and giving parents the tools to implement early allergen introduction the right way. 

“Especially with the struggles I’ve seen with parents following the new guidelines, and the need for parents to be educated on early allergen introduction, we’re really excited to partner with Memorial Hermann to make sure that every family can get the education they need on early allergen introduction and food allergy prevention. We're thrilled to have developed tools that make it easy to implement the new guidelines, and to team up with Memorial Hermann to support their physicians in educating and empowering families."

Memorial Hermann is also taking advantage of other resources that this relationship offers, like in-office brochures and other educational materials to teach families about early allergen introduction. 

“Ready. Set. Food! has produced a very parent-friendly handout that gives parents advice on how to introduce allergens, educates parents on food allergies, and explains how early allergen introduction makes a difference,” says Dr. Victoria Regan, VP of Women’s and Children’s Services at Memorial Hermann. ”This complements what they learn in the pediatric office.The education is written in a way that’s easy to understand, and we can give it to all patients through the partnership.” 

Food Allergy Prevention Education for Providers

For providers, we’ve developed a continuing medical education (CME) course featuring leading allergy experts, which gives summaries of the latest food allergy prevention medical guidelines and introduces how Ready. Set. Food! can make allergen introduction easier for families. This way, providers are more equipped to teach families about the importance of early allergen introduction. 

We’ve also worked with the chair of pediatricians to familiarize providers with early allergen introduction education, guidelines, and Ready. Set. Food! to prepare to talk to parents.

“Being able to give parents handouts at different checkups, that has information they can easily digest and understand, is very helpful. The Ready. Set. Food! handouts have information that works hand in hand with what our pediatricians talk about at different visits,” says Dr. Victoria Regan, VP of Women’s and Children’s Services at Memorial Hermann. “They also have educational tools that we can build into our electronic medical records, which remind pediatricians about the proper education that we can give to parents. Part of Memorial Hermann’s mission is to help the health of our community, and this food allergy prevention education is a great way for us to further that mission.”

Our Giving Back Program

Through Memorial Hermann, we’ve also distributed free 6-month plans of Ready. Set. Food! (Stages 1 and 2) to low-income families as part of our Giving Back program. At the 4-month-old well-child visit, along with education on the importance of early allergen introduction, pediatricians give the Ready. Set. Food! allergen introduction system to low-income families, including publicly insured and uninsured families.

“Here at Memorial Hermann, we’re excited to partner with Ready. Set. Food! to help promote family education about preventing food allergies,” says Dr. Victoria Regan, VP of Women’s and Children’s Services at Memorial Hermann. “Having a way to provide Ready. Set. Food! to all of our community here in the Houston market – with them donating products we can share… with some of our families that may need a little assistance acquiring the product – will help us spread the message of early allergen introduction and hopefully make a difference in the community over the next ten years.”

This is the first time Ready. Set. Food! is implementing the Giving Back program in person, with pediatricians giving the allergen introduction system directly to parents during the well-child visit. (Previously, all of the families in our Giving Back program had to apply online.) Through Memorial Hermann, we’ve already distributed Ready. Set. Food! to over 2,000 babies in need. 

Ready. Set. Food! is committed to making food freedom accessible to all babies, including those whose families need financial assistance. We believe that every parent should have equal access to ways to improve their child’s health. Our goal is to make early allergen introduction safe, easy, and accessible for every family.

“When Mark Cuban invested in us on Shark Tank, he asked that for every subscription we sell, we give one free subscription to a family in need,” says Daniel Zakowski, CEO and cofounder of Ready. Set. Food! “Through our partnership with Memorial Hermann, one of the largest healthcare systems in the country, we’re able to give back on an even larger scale. We’re so grateful for this partnership because it will help us reach tens of thousands of families who already struggle with food insecurity and help give every baby a chance at a life of food freedom.”

Ready. Set. Food! and Memorial Hermann: Giving Even More Babies a Chance At Food Freedom

By giving even more parents the tools they need to introduce allergens, and getting Ready. Set. Food! into the hands of families in need, we’re giving many more babies the best chance at a future of food freedom, regardless of their family’s financial situation. 

“Recent data now shows that the earlier we introduce food allergens, the better the likelihood of preventing food allergies in children. The recommendation is, starting at 4 months, to introduce common food allergens in the diet,” says Dr. Victoria Regan, VP of Women’s and Children’s Services at Memorial Hermann. “This is kind of tricky, though, because around 4-6 months, a lot of families are still thinking about when to introduce solid foods. 

“Previously, we also didn’t have any other way to recommend introducing allergens besides crushing peanuts into a powder… which is difficult for families to do and difficult for families to change their habits. Now, parents can add Ready. Set. Food! to a bottle of formula or breastmilk, meaning that parents can easily give their babies the food allergen introduction they need, at a very young age, on a regular basis. And with our partnership, we can give out Ready. Set. Food! to some of our most needy families.”


-------------------------------

All health-related content on this website is for informational purposes only and does not create a doctor-patient relationship. Always seek the advice of your own pediatrician in connection with any questions regarding your baby’s health.

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.  

See the FDA Peanut Allergy Qualified Health Claim at the bottom of our homepage.

All health-related content on this website is for informational purposes only and does not create a doctor-patient relationship. Always seek the advice of your own pediatrician in connection with any questions regarding your baby’s health.

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.  If your infant has severe eczema, check with your infant’s healthcare provider before feeding foods containing ground peanuts.