INDIANAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield today announced that its foundation and 5,000 Indiana associates contributed nearly $4 million and 4,500 volunteer hours to health-related causes and community events in 2016.
“Indiana has been our company’s home since 1944. We care deeply about improving public health in our state,” said Robert Hillman, president of Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Indiana. “By working with non-profit health organizations and community leaders across the state, we know that we’re having a positive impact on the communities we serve.”
Highlights from 2016 included:
- 1,100 youth learned the importance of healthy, active lifestyles through the Foundation’s support of the Boys and Girls Clubs of America. Grants were awarded to clubs in Evansville, Richmond, Northwest Indiana, Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, Bloomington, Tippecanoe County and St. Joseph County.
- Working with the American Heart Association, nearly 7,000 people were trained in hands-only CPR, and a new training kiosk was installed at Indianapolis International Airport to teach travelers this life-saving technique.
- Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation support of the March of Dimes enabled more than 200 pregnant women to enroll in a successful prenatal care program that resulted in a lower pre-term birth rate than the national average.
- With the Foundation’s funding, the OASIS Institute’s CATCH Healthy Habits program reached nearly 400 adults and 700 kids and resulted in an increase in physical activity by adult volunteers and an increase in kids’ consumption of vegetables.
- A $1 million grant to United Way of Central Indiana in 2016 is helping to create healthier environments for thousands of low-income preschoolers in Indianapolis. The funding supports the creation of safe indoor and outdoor play spaces.
- Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation partnered with the USO of Indiana to help 80 Indiana National Guard members, at risk of discharge because of their inability to meet fitness requirements, remain in active duty by engaging them in an intensive health and fitness challenge.
- Financial support for the American Lung Association resulted in hundreds of Hoosiers enrolling in smoking cessation programs throughout the year.
Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield associates also contributed personally and financially to improving Indiana communities last year, volunteering more than 4,500 hours of service and making charitable donations that totaled nearly $700,000 with a match from the Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation.
“At Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, we are committed to the health and well being of Indiana communities,” said Hillman. “I’m proud that Anthem associates gave so much personally and financially last year in pursuit of that mission.”
About Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Indiana
Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield is the trade name of Anthem Insurance Companies, Inc., an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. ® ANTHEM is a registered trademark of Anthem Insurance Companies, Inc. The Blue Cross and Blue Shield names and symbols are registered marks of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. Additional information about Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Indiana is available at www.anthem.com. Also, follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/AskAnthem, www.twitter.com/AnthemPR_IN and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/AskAnthem.
About Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation
Through charitable grant making, the Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation LLC, an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, promotes Anthem’s inherent commitment to enhance the health and well-being of individuals and families in communities that Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield serves. The Foundation focuses its funding on strategic initiatives that address and provide innovative solutions to health care challenges, as well as promoting the Healthy Generations Program, a multi-generational initiative that targets specific disease states and medical conditions. These include: prenatal care in the first trimester, low birth weight babies, cardiac morbidity rates, long term activities that decrease obesity and increase physical activity, diabetes prevalence in adult populations, adult pneumococcal and influenza vaccinations and smoking cessation. The Foundation also coordinates the company’s Associate Giving program which provides a 50 percent match of associates’ campaign pledges, as well as its Volunteer Time Off and Dollars for Doers community service programs. ®ANTHEM is a registered trademark of Anthem Insurance Companies, Inc. The Blue Cross and Blue Shield names and symbols are registered marks of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.