BlueCross Foundation Awards $4.8 Million in 13 Grants to South Carolina Organizations

The BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina Foundation will award $4.8 million to 13 organizations serving South Carolinians’ health needs.

“We are excited about the newest grant recipients,” said Foundation Executive Director Harvey Galloway. “These grants align with the mission of the Foundation, which is to promote and support healthier South Carolinians, particularly the economically vulnerable.”

The grants support the five investment strategies of the Foundation: access to care, building a strong health care workforce, improving health and health care quality and value, investing in children, and research and special projects. The foundation has two grant cycles each year.

“One of the ways we improve the overall health of South Carolinians is by investing in the programs for the people who need it the most,” Galloway said. “We are giving to the agencies and programs that are committed to making a difference in our state.” 

Recipients of the most recent grants are:

Advanced Care Planning (ACP) in South Carolina (Statewide) – Funds approved to support activities to develop a strategic plan to promote ACP for the economically disadvantaged in South Carolina. Grant recipient to be determined.

Closing the Gap in Health Care (Berkeley, Charleston and Dorchester counties) – Create and deliver health literacy messages that are easy to understand and culturally sensitive to the tri-county region.

Greenwood Genetic Center (Statewide) – Support research toward the development of a blood-diagnostic test for autism in order to determine treatment strategies and early intervention for children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder.

Healthy Learners (Allendale, Dillon, Georgetown, Greenwood, Lexington and Richland counties) – Provide vision and oral screenings, medications and transportation to clinic appointments for children. 

Institute for Child Success (Statewide) – Complete a statewide study on the current protective services of child advocacy centers (CACs) in order to produce research and policy recommendations focused on eliminating toxic stress.

Impact America (Abbeville, Aiken, Allendale, Anderson, Bamberg, Barnwell, Berkeley, Cherokee, Chester, Colleton, Darlington, Dillon, Fairfield, Greenville, Greenwood, Hampton, Horry, Kershaw, Laurens, Lexington, Marion, Marlboro, McCormick, Newberry, Oconee, Pickens, Richland, Saluda, Spartanburg, Union and Williamsburg counties) – Provide free vision screenings using high-tech digital cameras in Head Start sites and low-income populations’ child care centers in order to detect and correct vision problems in young children.

Palmetto Palace (Allendale, Beaufort, Berkeley, Charleston, Colleton, Dorchester, Hampton and Jasper counties) – Increase access to health care services through technology and telehealth using a mobile health van throughout the Lowcountry.

South Carolina Pharmacy Foundation Inc. (Statewide) – Plan and implement a statewide initiative to educate providers on the proper management of opioid addiction in order to prevent over-prescribing opioids and to increase public awareness of medication safety.

The Columbia Oral Health Clinic (Calhoun, Chesterfield, Clarendon, Fairfield, Kershaw,  Lee, Lexington, Newberry, Richland and Sumter counties) – Improve access to care by upgrading dental equipment to provide free dental examinations to uninsured and underinsured patients living with HIV/AIDS.

The Medical University of South Carolina (Statewide) – Support the development of a burn-healing app that will increase access to medical care for burned children, as well as educate caregivers and providers on burn injury prevention efforts statewide.

The South Carolina Department of Social Services (Greenville, York and Lee counties)– Begin a pilot program in Greenville, York and Lee counties that will enable caseworkers to access their network system remotely using mobile devices that will result in a better documentation process and also allow for access to health care data of clients.

The University of South Carolina Salkehatchie (Allendale, Bamberg, Barnwell, Colleton, Hampton and Jasper counties) – Add a state-of-the-art simulation lab to assist nursing students for real-life situations to add to the much-needed growth of the health care workforce.

USC Center for Colon Cancer Research (Aiken, Allendale, Beaufort, Chesterfield, Colleton, Dillon, Hampton, Jasper, Marlboro, Oconee, Pickens and Union counties) – Introduce fecal immunochemical testing (FIT) in counties that are not currently being served by other colorectal screening projects.

For more detailed information on each grant, please visit our Grants page.

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.