UnitedHealthcare has donated $106,000 to 11 organizations in Georgia,
including $25,000 to both the American Diabetes Association and the
Atlanta Gospel Fest 10th Annual Healthcare & Music Festival,
to help support health education and outreach programs that teach
healthy lifestyles and aim to improve people’s health and well-being.
Jocelyn Chisholm Carter of UnitedHealthcare (top right) and Leslie Potts of the American Diabetes Association of Atlanta (left) help local residents learn about diabetes during a community outreach campaign to educate more than 10,000 people in the region about diabetes prevention and care. The initiative is being funded through a $25,000 grant by UnitedHealthcare to the ADA. UnitedHealthcare donated $106,000 to 11 organizations in Georgia, and are part of UnitedHealthcare's efforts to develop solutions that help care for the economically disadvantaged, the medically underserved and people who lack access to employer-funded health care coverage (Photo: Wingate Downs).
The grants are being provided to community-based organizations and
Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) in Georgia, and are part of
UnitedHealthcare’s efforts to develop solutions that help care for the
economically disadvantaged, the medically underserved and people who
lack access to employer-funded health care coverage.
The Greater Atlanta chapter of the American Diabetes Association will
use the grant to help fund research and community-outreach initiatives
to prevent, cure and manage diabetes. This includes support for ADA’s
Stop Diabetes® movement, a national call to action inspiring all
Americans, not just people with diabetes, to come together to eradicate
the disease and its impact on society.
“This grant increases our ability to help educate people who may be at
risk of developing diabetes as well as those living with diabetes,” said
Rena Cozart, executive director of American Diabetes Association,
Atlanta. “ADA is proud to work with UnitedHealthcare to strengthen our
research programs, increase awareness and help stop diabetes in our
community.”
ADA will conduct community-outreach efforts to educate more than 10,000
people in the Atlanta region about diabetes prevention and care,
including a major diabetes education initiative during the Atlanta
Gospel Fest 10th Annual Healthcare & Music Festival.
Gospel Fest includes an array of dynamic music concerts, health care
workshops, trainings, youth and entrepreneur activities, and financial
and literary empowerment workshops. During the event, UnitedHealthcare
and ADA will help educate the thousands of attendees about diabetes
prevention, care and treatment programs. UnitedHealthcare is the
presenting wellness sponsor and ADA the program sponsor of the two-day
festival held July 24-25th that focuses on family, wellness,
fun and entertainment.
“Gospel Fest is honored to have UnitedHealthcare and ADA as major
sponsors and providing important educational resources about diabetes
and other wellness programs,” said Dr. Riki Brooks, organizer of Atlanta
Gospel Fest. “Diabetes is a major health issue in our state, and
together we can help thousands of attendees become more aware and help
them identify ways to improve their health.”
Additional UnitedHealthcare grant recipients include:
-
Boys & Girls Club, $15,000, to support various youth
afterschool programs that teach healthy lifestyles, character and
leadership by engaging young people in activities with positive adult
role models and peers.
-
Atlanta Healthy Start Initiative – Center for Black Women's
Wellness (CBWW), $8,000, to improve maternal and infant health
outcomes through home-visitation services. The grant funds a new
library of pregnancy preparation books and supports upcoming
pregnancy-preparation conferences for pregnant mothers and
family-support workers.
-
Kindred Spirit Home – City of Refuge, $7,500, to help pregnant
and/or parenting teen girls prepare for economic self-sufficiency. The
grant also supports programs that give teen moms access to timely and
routine prenatal and infant medical care.
-
Sickle Cell Foundation, $7,500, to improve treatments, research
and educational resources to enhance patients’ and their families’
health and quality of life.
-
Atlanta Community Food Bank, $6,000, for its annual Hunger
Walk/Run that supports food-assistance programs and services for
people in need, with the goal of helping end local hunger.
-
Hispanic Health Coalition of Georgia (HHCGA), $5,000, to
support and expand diabetes education programs that include direct
advocacy to Hispanic/Latinos diagnosed with diabetes and encouraging
regular medical visits, proper nutrition and medical care.
-
Samaritan Clinic, $2,500, to support the Diabetes Cohort
Program, which aims to give uninsured low-income patients access to
the right tools, education and care to successfully manage their
diabetes that will improve care, reduce emergency-room visits and
lower costs.
-
General Missionary Baptist Convention of Georgia, $2,500, to
address and provide leadership in early-childhood education, obesity
and substance-misuse prevention.
-
Georgia Rural Health Association, $2,000, to support and
further the organization’s efforts to improve health care services and
the health of rural Georgians through its nonprofit network of health
care providers, educators and individuals.
Jocelyn Chisholm Carter of UnitedHealthcare announced the grants during
the Atlanta Gospel Fest kick-off event.
“UnitedHealthcare is grateful for the opportunity to support ADA, Gospel
Fest and other Georgia organizations that are working every day to help
families, young parents and children live healthier lives through their
community-based education, training and outreach programs,” she said.
“We are honored to help provide new resources and tools to strengthen
the support they provide locally, particularly in medically underserved
communities.”
According to the American Diabetes Association, more than 1 million
Georgians suffer from diabetes. The ADA predicts that if present trends
continue, one out of every three children, including one in two minority
children, will face a future with diabetes. This grant is one way
UnitedHealthcare and the ADA are partnering to educate the public about
how to stop diabetes and support people who are living with this disease.
According to the 2014 America’s
Health Rankings® report, an annual comprehensive
assessment of the nation’s health on a state-by-state basis, Georgia
ranks 38th in overall health. Nearly 11 percent of adults in
Georgia have diabetes, ranking 37th, and above the national
average of 9.6 percent.
UnitedHealthcare serves more than 1 million people in Georgia with a
care provider network of 164 hospitals and nearly 20,000 care providers
statewide.
About UnitedHealthcare
UnitedHealthcare
is dedicated to helping people nationwide live healthier lives by
simplifying the health care experience, meeting consumer health and
wellness needs, and sustaining trusted relationships with care
providers. The company offers the full spectrum of health benefit
programs for individuals, employers, military service members, retirees
and their families, and Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, and
contracts directly with more than 850,000 physicians and care
professionals, and 6,000 hospitals and other care facilities nationwide.
Globally, UnitedHealthcare serves 45 million people in health benefits
and is one of the businesses of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH), a
diversified Fortune 50 health and well-being company. For more
information, visit UnitedHealthcare at www.uhc.com
or follow @myUHC on Twitter.
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