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BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina Foundation Approves More Than $10 Million in Grants State Wide

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The BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina Foundation has approved more than $10.7 million in its latest grant cycle to health-related organizations serving South Carolina’s economically disadvantaged citizens. 
 
In total since 2003, the foundation has awarded more than $71 million in grants to address health care issues affecting the most vulnerable in South Carolina.
 
“The work of our latest grant recipients fits our mission of helping South Carolinians become healthier by increasing access to health care and by supporting communities across our state working to improve population health,” said Harvey Galloway, the foundation’s executive director. 
 
The foundation has two grant cycles each year. Recipients of the most recent grants are:

  • South Carolina Free Clinic Association (statewide) – to enhance behavioral health, dental, prescription and medical services for uninsured adults at free clinics.
  • Greenville Health System with the University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville – to support the Levi S. Kirkland, SR., M.D. Scholarship Fund for in-state minority students, thereby increasing physician workforce diversity.
  • University of South Carolina College of Nursing – to provide scholarships for students in the graduate psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner program, with a focus on improving access to mental health services in underserved communities.
  • The Medical University of South Carolina – to establish a doctoral track for the psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner program, including scholarships for members of the initial class of students.
  • South Carolina Community Loan Fund (statewide) – to provide a revolving source of low-interest loans for the creation of healthy food access points in rural communities.
  • South Carolina Office of Rural Health (statewide) – to address the root causes of poor health in rural communities.
  • Children in Crisis (Berkeley, Charleston and Dorchester Counties) – to support a nurse practitioner for forensic interviews with at-risk children.
  • Children’s Recovery Center, Inc. (Georgetown County) – to conduct forensic interviews and medical exams for abused and neglected children.
  • PASOs (Beaufort and Hampton Counties) – to bring together Latina mothers, their medical home team and culturally specific community health workers to address the causes of early childhood obesity.
  • School District Five of Lexington and Richland Counties – to launch a mobile food truck to distribute warm meals to low-income children to reduce the impact of food insecurity on the health of the district’s students.
  • Nurse Family Partnership (Pee Dee and Lowcountry regions) – to support current clients and to increase capacity to serve more low-income, first-time mothers.
  • Dee Norton Lowcountry Children’s Center (Berkeley and Charleston Counties) – to implement an early intervention treatment model that can more quickly identify strategies to manage symptoms resulting from child maltreatment.
  • Greenville Health System and Greenville County Emergency Medical Services – to hire three community paramedics as part of a team, which includes a social worker, to work in five low-income neighborhoods to address basic medical and other health needs, resulting in the right care at the right time and place.
  • Richland County Emergency Services Department – to use six community paramedics to improve access to care and redirect improper utilization of health care resources of economically vulnerable individuals through the implementation a countywide, mobile, integrated health care collaborative.

“Our grant recipients this cycle have projects and programs that are of great benefit to improving the overall health of South Carolinians, particularly the economically disadvantaged,” Galloway said. “By awarding grants that bridge health and health care, we’re offering help and hope to those who need it most.”

About the BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina Foundation

Headquartered in Columbia, the foundation is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. Its mission is to promote and support healthier South Carolinians, particularly the economically vulnerable, by supporting solutions to address gaps in health care and serving as an agent of change to support innovation and value-added public-private partnerships.

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