2013 funding increases access to care, supports nursing education and helps build healthy communities
The Independence Blue Cross Foundation announced that it awarded 109 grants in southeastern Pennsylvania during 2013, totaling $4.5 million. The grants targeted four primary areas: increasing access to quality, affordable care in medically underserved areas; bolstering the health care workforce; addressing health priorities; and building healthier communities.
“We are excited to lead sustainable solutions to improve the health and wellness of our neighborhoods in our Foundation’s second year. We continue to support programs aimed at resolving our community’s most pressing health priorities, including expanding access to care for nearly 200,000 people in underserved areas through partnerships with community health centers, and helping approximately 240 students pursue their nursing education at area nursing schools,” said Lorina Marshall-Blake, president of the IBC Foundation. “We’re also excited that 20 schools in our region are now participating in the IBC Foundation Healthy Futures initiative, launched in October 2012. This is another major step forward in our efforts to improve childhood wellness, reverse the childhood obesity epidemic, and follow national guidance encouraging children to eat right, get fit, and stay well, Healthy Future key components.”
Increasing access to quality, affordable care in medically underserved areas
The IBC Foundation has a longstanding commitment to investing in the health care safety net through the Blue Safety Net program. This program funds private, nonprofit community health centers that provide access to quality care in medically underserved areas. In 2013, the IBC Foundation provided more than $2.3 million in funding to 41 health centers, including first-time grants to five organizations:
• Einstein Community Practice Clinic, to support expanded operations, including a patient navigator to coordinate care for uninsured patients.
• North Philadelphia Health System, to support a discharge program that coordinates the transition of care for uninsured patients from the hospital to a community health center.
• Philadelphia FIGHT, to support a new dental program offered to patients of the Jonathan Lax Treatment Center.
• Salus University — The Eye Institute, to provide vision and ocular health services to uninsured adults.
• Spectrum Health Services, Inc., to support the new Spectrum Health Center, a community clinic in west Philadelphia.
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