Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota Releases 2017 Community Report

EAGAN, MINN. (May 16, 2018) - Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota (Blue Cross) continues to be committed to the mission of making a healthy difference in people’s lives by focusing on the value of corporate social responsibility and bold action. The 2017 “Moving Health Forward” community report highlights five areas Blue Cross has focused their attention to improve the lives of Minnesotans, including:

Community:

• More than $20 million was provided to community organizations aimed at advancing health equity, increasing healthy eating and physical activity, and reducing commercial tobacco use. More than 99 percent of these dollars remained in Minnesota.
• Healthy Together Willmar established the Willmar Community Table in 2017, which invited residents to break bread together at community meals, providing them with an opportunity for collective, collaborative problem solving and idea generation.
• Blue Cross attended more than 60 community-facing events and drove more than 6,000 miles to connect with under-represented populations and build relationships with multicultural communities.

Health Equity:

• 300 employees attended events during our first Health Equity Month in April 2017.
• The inaugural Patsy Riley Health Equity and Diversity Award was launched to recognize internal champions and leaders in their efforts to improve health equity for Minnesotans.
• Blue Cross’ Community Outreach hosted Baby Shower Celebrations and invested more than 212 volunteer hours to address some of the social determinants of health that affect preterm and complicated births.

Health Care:

• Nearly 50 employees trained as Health Literacy Ambassadors in 2017 to promote awareness of low health literacy and the use of best practices for health literacy within Blue Cross.
• Approximately 7,000 people completed a prediabetes risk quiz as the result of the public relations campaign “Reverse It;” which raised awareness about the preventable and reversible condition of prediabetes.
• More than 12,000 people have downloaded Blue Cross’ new do. App. The app promotes small steps towards a healthier you, wherever you are in your journey.  

Employees:

• The Virginia and Aurora offices celebrated fifteen years on the Iron Range. They began with 145 employees and have since expanded to more than 500. Blue Cross is now one of the largest employers in the area.
• The annual employee giving campaign, which includes a Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota Foundation match, raised $1.13 million and benefited more than 650 nonprofits.
• Employees packed more than 25,000 backpacks with healthy food for students in need.

Environment:  

• One of the ways Blue Cross diverted over 292 tons of trash from landfills in 2017 was by composting paper towels used in company buildings.
• The community giving garden celebrated its 10th year by donating more than 1,000 pounds of fresh produce grown on Blue Cross grounds to local food shelves.
• In 2017, Blue Cross began donating organic food waste to a farm for composting.

To see more of the many ways Blue Cross is committed to serving the communities we live and work in, view the full community report at: https://www.bluecrossmnreport.com/.