The Wellmark Foundation Funds 11 Health Improvement Projects in Iowa and South Dakota

October 8, 2007

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Contact:
Angela Feig
515.245.4551
feigab@wellmark.com

(Des Moines, Iowa) – The Wellmark Foundation funded 11 health improvement grants in Iowa and South Dakota totaling $610,311 at its recent board of directors meeting. Organizations receiving grants in the designated health priority areas include:

Depression

• A $26,500 grant will allow the AIDS Project of Central Iowa in Des Moines to develop a mental health and counseling program for persons living with HIV/AIDS in central Iowa. The program will strive to improve health literacy in the area of depression and help clients overcome barriers to accessing mental health services in their communities.

• South Dakota Voices for Children in Sioux Falls, S.D., received a $77,250 grant to continue a statewide children’s mental health initiative. The project was launched in 2004 to improve the mental health of South Dakota children by addressing major depression. Previous Wellmark Foundation grants provided core funding for implementation of the first two phases of the initiative. The third phase of the project will educate parents and professionals who work with children about strategies to help develop emotionally healthy children.

• A $66,183 grant will allow Visiting Nurse Services to create a postpartum depression education program for women in central Iowa. The program will be created and implemented in cooperation with four hospitals and clinics located in Des Moines. The program will include training, high-risk screening and assessment, counseling and more.

Diabetes

• The Sanford Health Foundation was awarded $54,162 in grant funds to continue an outreach program to the medically underserved community in Sioux Falls, S.D. The project was originally launched in 2005 through support of a Wellmark Foundation grant. The second phase of the program will focus on enhancing underserved individuals’ access to diabetes prevention and management services.

End-of-Life Care

• A $50,334 grant will allow the Aberdeen Area Tribal Chairmen’s Health Board in Rapid City, S.D., to develop an education project for Native American caregivers of cancer patients. The project will provide education, training and tools to family members, friends and community health providers, all of whom may serve as caregivers in Native American communities. Tribal health leaders will be consulted throughout the development of the project.

• The Fund for Advancement of Medical Education and Research in Sioux Falls, S.D., will use $88,417 in grant funds to create a pediatric palliative care program. The program, a cooperative project of the University of South Dakota’s Sanford School of Medicine and the Sanford Children’s Hospital in Sioux Falls, is designed to improve the standard of care for children at the end of life.

• The Siouxland Human Investment Partnership in Sioux City received a $48,233 grant to develop a pediatric comfort care pilot program in northwest Iowa. The program will provide palliative care, pain management and community support services to seriously ill children and their families.

Health Literacy

• The Healthy Linn Care Network in Cedar Rapids received a $33,702 grant to continue a health literacy project in Linn County. Two previous grants from The Wellmark Foundation supported the Network’s launch of the project in 2005 and implementation of the second phase in 2006. The third phase of the project will develop educational strategies for specific populations challenged by health literacy issues.

• A $47,800 grant will allow Horizon Health Care, Inc., headquartered in Howard, S.D., to implement a diabetes and depression awareness and treatment program for underserved patients in two rural South Dakota communities. The program will use telemedicine strategies to assist health professionals in educating and empowering patients to manage their diabetic condition and linking them to needed specialty health services for treatment of diabetes and depression.

• The Iowa Healthcare Collaborative in Des Moines received a $50,530 grant to develop a health care campaign promoting improved patient and provider communication. The campaign will promote improved communication through the use of the MedCard, a folded information sheet housed in a billfold-sized plastic sleeve. The card is designed to help patients keep track of their medications and to encourage more frequent and effective communication with their health care providers.

• The South Dakota Dental Foundation in Pierre, S.D., received a $67,200 grant to continue a statewide oral health education program for children. The program, which was launched in 2006 through a Wellmark Foundation grant, is designed to improve oral health and reduce oral health diseases in children of low-income families across the state. This phase will focus on improving health literacy through continued oral health education of children and parents in underserved populations.

The Wellmark Foundation has provided more than $12.77 million to fund 374 health-related grants in Iowa and South Dakota since 1997, including a total of $1,854,175 to date in 2007. “The Wellmark Foundation collaborates with non-profit and governmental organizations in Iowa and South Dakota to build healthier communities,” says Matthew McGarvey, director of The Wellmark Foundation. “We are pleased to support these projects that will recognize and treat depression, provide diabetes care, improve end-of-life care and services, and increase health literacy in communities across our states,” says McGarvey.

The Wellmark Foundation is a private, non-profit foundation created by Wellmark, Inc., doing business as Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Iowa. Visit The Wellmark Foundation's Web site at www.wellmark.com/foundation for a list of grant recipients and grant application instructions. Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield and The Wellmark Foundation are independent licensees of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.