By: Paloma Hernandez, President and CEO, Urban Health Plan
We have long defined healthcare by what happens inside clinical settings: the diagnosis, the treatment, the prescription. But health itself is shaped by everything outside those walls: whether someone has a reason to get up in the morning, a community to belong to, something that brings them joy. Recently, on a Tuesday afternoon at one of our health centers, a patient who came in anxious and alone stayed two hours past her appointment because a guitarist was playing in the lobby, and she didn’t want to leave. That moment is not a coincidence. It is exactly the point, and the motivation behind what we call social prescribing.
Today, March 26, is World Social Prescribing Day. It is a global moment to recognize a growing movement that is reshaping what healthcare can and should look like. At Urban Health Plan (UHP), a system of Federally Qualified Community Health Centers serving the Bronx, Queens, and Manhattan, we have embraced social prescribing not as a supplement to care, but as an essential part of it. Why? It's because loneliness, isolation, and depression are a health crisis.
The evidence is sobering. In 2023, the U.S. Surgeon General issued an advisory declaring loneliness a public health epidemic, revealing that social isolation poses a greater risk to health than obesity or physical inactivity and is equivalent to the health impact of smoking 15 cigarettes a day. More than half of adults in the United States report feeling lonely, and the communities we serve in the South Bronx, where poverty rates hover around 30%, and the burdens of chronic disease are disproportionately high, are among the hardest hit.
Social connection is not a luxury. It is a fundamental human need, and data shows loneliness has real, measurable consequences for a person's physical and mental health. Social isolation contributes to hypertension, heart disease, depression, and accelerated cognitive decline. In fact, research shows that older adults who participate in the arts report a 48% lower risk of depression and a 44% reduction in dementia risk. The data is clear: connection heals.
In 2023, Urban Health Plan proudly joined Arts for EveryBody, a national initiative spanning 18 U.S. cities and led by One Nation/One Project, with the mission to activate the power of the arts to heal communities. The following year, we launched our own Arts Desk, a dedicated program within our health centers through which UHP providers prescribe arts and cultural experiences to patients based on their interests and needs. There are always things happening in or not too far from our communities, and a community health worker works to connect each patient to the right opportunity: a performance, a cooking class in our onsite teaching kitchen, a museum, a botanical garden, or an art workshop.
These experiences are intentionally free or low-cost, because we know that access to the arts has historically been unequal. In a community where financial barriers are real and persistent, social prescribing becomes a tool for health equity, ensuring that the healing power of creativity and connection is not reserved for those who can afford it.
The momentum is growing. In 2025, we saw arts and culture prescriptions made every month, with some months generating 100 prescriptions. Compared to the previous year, the number of providers making prescriptions doubled, and the number of prescriptions tripled. Generating prescriptions to the arts and culture is an important piece of the puzzle, but making arts programming accessible is equally important. We brought arts programming inside seven of our health center sites, engaging 1,750 patients in on-site experiences ranging from visual arts workshops to live music performances by local artists and ensembles. At community health fairs, an estimated 5,000 individuals accessed arts programming, including live music, performances, and various forms of artmaking.
The patient response has been positive. Rapid surveys conducted with over 400 patients during our Artist-in-Residence program showed that more than 99% of patients reported feeling happy or confident after participating in arts workshops, and over 90% felt more connected to others in the room. These are not small numbers. They reflect something essential: when people feel seen, engaged, and part of a community, their mood and motivation improve.
The national recognition UHP has received underscores that this approach is not just working, it is worth scaling. In November 2024, the National Endowment for the Arts selected Urban Health Plan as one of only nine organizations nationwide demonstrating innovative, replicable approaches to improving mental health, belonging, and social connection through the arts. Our program has also been featured as a case study in Creative Partnerships for Stronger Healthcare, a national guide published by Arts for EveryBody and CSI Solutions, and with One Nation/One Project, we presented at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement IHI Forum last December.
We are proud of what we have built, but we know that no single organization can meet this need alone. Social prescribing requires all of us: healthcare providers willing to look beyond the prescription pad, community organizations ready to open their doors, artists committed to their communities, and policymakers who recognize that health happens outside of exam rooms too.
On this World Social Prescribing Day, those of us who are doing this work call on health providers, community leaders, educators, and culture-bearers across New York and beyond to join this movement. Start small, just by asking how the arts can be part of the care you provide. Partner with local organizations. Advocate for programs that address the full humanity of the people you serve.
Health is not just the absence of disease; it is the presence of joy, connection, and creativity. And in the Bronx, we are prescribing all three!
