Blue Cross And Blue Shield of Illinois Grant
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois Awards Grant to A Safe Haven Foundation To Improve Health Outcomes For Homeless Children
October 6, 2015 (Chicago, Illinois) A Safe Haven Foundation is pleased to announce it has received a $50,000 grant from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois (BCBSIL). These funds will support “Creating Healthy Environments: Home Visiting Program” targeting homeless families.
“Thank you to Blue Cross Blue Shield for providing resources for a Registered Nurse. A Safe Haven’s Clinic is located on-site at its North Lawndale headquarters in Chicago, which is one of the city’s most poverty stricken communities. It is very exciting for us to be able to expand our ability to provide services to thousands of people a year beyond housing, social, education and employment assessments services to include onsite healthcare for the homeless. Our ability to provide developmental assessments, health care services, and serve as a referral resource to help people find long term medical care and a medical home, is a vital component to help us rebuild lives in a healthy and sustainable manner. This grant allows us to help people get the medical attention they need, which creates a ripple effect that will not only improve the health of the people we serve, but significantly reduce the rate of costly over utilization of emergency room services for the short- and long-term; while reducing the rate of recidivism. BCBSIL support truly plays a very important role in helping us deliver another important link in our holistic approach that systematically helps families become healthy, productive and respected members of society. We are grateful to be their partners and trusted stewards of their valued resources to achieve our mutual goals—to improve the health and well-being of each citizen”, said Neli Vazquez Rowland, Co-founder and President of A Safe Haven Foundation.
ASHF’s Home Visitors will provide homeless families with access to health and wellness resources such as counseling, health screening, as well as prevention and intervention based services, with a goal to promote access to well-coordinated care along with disease prevention and management through effective health education and referrals (including case management). The funds from the grant will help support an on-site Registered Nurse to ensure positive health outcomes. The role of the Registered Nurse is to screen families referred by Home Visitors, assess the overall health of our residents, and if a higher-level care is required, the Nurse will refer individuals and families to medical practitioners in the community to serve as a medical home, as needed.
“Our investment in A Safe Haven is a reflection of how our commitment extends beyond serving our members, but the broader community at large, and in particular, those who are vulnerable or disadvantaged among us,” said Donna Gerber, Vice President of Public Affairs and Community Investments, BCBSIL. “To that end, A Safe Haven delivers results we’ve come to admire and support.”
Each year, BCBSIL supports communities throughout the state with grants and sponsorships. In Illinois, grants are awarded to direct service health and human service organizations with 501c3 status. Funding is dispersed through two separate funding streams: Community Partners Grant and Healthy Kids Healthy Families Grant.