Aetna donates $250,000 to 10 Michigan neighborhood companions

Funding will help well being and social care applications throughout the state

SOUTHFIELD, MI, Might 24, 2023 — Aetna Higher Well being® of Michigan Inc., a CVS Well being® firm (NYSE: CVS), introduced that Aetna awarded $250,000 in grants to 10 neighborhood companions all through the state to handle social determinants of well being (SDoH) and advance well being fairness. The donations will help well being care suppliers and neighborhood companions that work to fulfill well being and social care wants, comparable to these associated to bodily and psychological well being, meals safety, workforce coaching and housing stability.

The Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity and the Michigan Association of United Ways report that 1.4 million Michiganders fall beneath the poverty stage, and 38% of households battle to afford requirements comparable to meals, housing, youngster care, expertise, well being care and transportation.

“Since having low income is often linked with poor well being and life expectancy, these experiencing poverty typically want to decide on between medication or maintaining a roof over their head,” stated Teressa Smith, CEO, Aetna Higher Well being of Michigan. “By investing in native suppliers and neighborhood organizations, we’re supporting the State in its mission to enhance the well being and wellbeing of Michiganders who reside and work in under-resourced communities.”

Aetna Higher Well being of Michigan offered $25,000 in investments to every of the next neighborhood companions which have aligned their work to considered one of 4 classes.

Workforce growth: Providing alternatives to construct self-sufficiency

• Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Southwest Michigan – Workforce Growth Framework program. Aetna’s funding will assist guarantee Membership members have the abilities, information and self-awareness they should plan and construct a viable profession.
• Goodwill Industries of Greater Detroit – SURGE Heart. Aetna’s funding will assist present entry-level staff — who’ve been positioned at Goodwill of Better Detroit’s thrift shops and different Goodwill program employers — with help, sources and options to assist resolve life points that threaten to undermine their job retention.

Housing stability: Impacting these in want with the power to reside in a secure surroundings

• Community Action Agency of South Central Michigan – Rental & Utility Help program. Aetna’s funding will assist certified, low-income residents keep away from homelessness by offering rental help, eviction prevention and funding of first month’s lease/deposit and utility help.
• Spectrum Human Services – Operation Wholesome Youth, Households and Communities program. Aetna’s funding will assist help youth programming, psychological and bodily well being companies and staffing sources for adoptive/foster dad and mom and relative caregivers.

Meals safety: Supporting the crucial position that diet performs in sustaining good well being

• Kalamazoo Loaves & Fishes, Inc. – Grocery Pantry Program. Aetna’s funding will assist present for supply or pickup of a twice-monthly, five- to seven-day provide of nutritious meals for people and households in want.
• Matrix Human Services – Meals for Well being Program and Senior Wholesome Dwelling Initiative. Aetna’s funding will assist help Meals Rx packages, dietary literacy, well being screenings and profit help applications for people with low-income and have or are predisposed to persistent sickness.
• South Michigan Food Bank – Recent Meals and Pantry Staple Distributions Program. Aetna’s funding will assist help the acquisition, packaging and distribution of recent and non-perishable meals from native Michigan farms in the summertime months and out-of-state growers within the winter months.

Well being enhancements and social care wants: Lowering boundaries to look after improved high quality of life

• Wayne Youngsters’s Healthcare Entry Program, Inc. – The donation can pay for the group’s Kids’ Health Connections workers to outreach to Aetna sufferers at highest danger for immunization delays and have interaction them with suppliers to extend immunization charges and display for lead poisoning, developmental delays and social determinants of well being.
• Michigan Community Health Worker Alliance (MiCHWA) – Challenge E2CHW (Training, Fairness & Group Well being Staff). Aetna’s funding will present MiCHWA members with entry to on-demand instructional trainings, toolkits and sources to allow them to assist sufferers and shoppers with wrap-around companies and pressing social care want referrals.
• Neighborhood Service Organization (NSO) – Medical Respite Program. Aetna’s funding will help NSO’s evidence-based, persevering with care technique for people experiencing homelessness. This system gives a secure place for people who’ve accomplished their acute hospital remedy however are too sick to be in a shelter or on the road.

The well being plan has been offering high quality care to Michigan Medicaid enrollees beneath the Aetna Higher Well being model since 2014 and is the oldest, continuous operating Medicaid managed care plan in Michigan since 1973. It presently serves over 53,000 Medicaid enrollees in Southwest and Southeast Michigan by way of the State’s Complete Well being Care Program.

About Aetna Medicaid

Aetna Medicaid Directors LLC (Aetna Medicaid), a CVS Well being firm, has over 30 years of expertise managing the care of under-resourced populations, utilizing revolutionary approaches and a neighborhood presence in every market to realize each profitable well being care outcomes and efficient price outcomes. Aetna Medicaid has experience serving high-need Medicaid members, together with those that are dually eligible for Medicaid and Medicare. Presently, Aetna Medicaid owns and/or administers Medicaid managed well being care plans beneath the names of Aetna Higher Well being and different affiliate names. Collectively, these plans serve members in 16 states, together with Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia. For extra info, see www.aetnabetterhealth.com.

About CVS Well being

CVS Health® is the main well being options firm, delivering care like nobody else can. We attain extra folks and enhance the well being of communities throughout America by way of our native presence, digital channels and over 300,000 devoted colleagues – together with greater than 40,000 physicians, pharmacists, nurses and nurse practitioners. Wherever and each time folks want us, we assist them with their well being – whether or not that’s managing persistent illnesses, staying compliant with their medicines or accessing inexpensive well being and wellness companies in essentially the most handy methods. We assist folks navigate the well being care system – and their private well being care – by bettering entry, reducing prices and being a trusted accomplice for each significant second of well being. And we do all of it with coronary heart, every day. Observe @CVSHealth on social media.

Media contact

Charlie Rice-Minoso
[email protected]