Westside Family Healthcare Receives Support for Pilot Program to Address Social Determinants of Health
December 16, 2020
Westside Family Healthcare Receives Support for Pilot Program to Address Social Determinants of Health
Westside Family Healthcare is a recipient of $172,307 from Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield Delaware’s BluePrints for the Community: Social Determinants of Health Grant. BluePrints for the Community, housed by the Delaware Community Foundation, has contributed over $17 million to the community since its inception in 2007. This program was established to serve Delawareans, with emphasis on, but not limited to, the needs of the uninsured and underserved, and to reduce health care disparities in minority population and address social determinants of health.
BluePrints for the Community funding supports Westside’s pilot program, Feeding Families, that addresses food insecurity, expands access to fresh foods, provides routine nutrition counseling, and educates patients to better manage chronic disease. Through this program, families receive fresh food delivered to their homes, and participate in monthly nutrition counseling sessions with a Westside dietitian who tailors the program to each patient with customized education and tools that encourage behavior change.
“Focusing on food insecurity and the factors that contribute to illness, or the social determinants of health, has always been the mission of Community Health Centers like Westside,” said Megan Werner, MD, MPH, Associate Medical Director of Population Health and Quality. “Through the Feeding Families program our care teams can support patients with chronic disease using nutritional interventions tailored to their unique cultural, social, and health needs,” Werner noted.
“BluePrints for the Community is happy to fund the Feeding Families program at Westside Family Healthcare and to partner with them to ensure high-risk patients get not only the food they need to survive, but the nutrition and diet they need to manage their health,” said Nick Moriello, President of Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield Delaware.
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About Westside Family Healthcare
Westside Family Healthcare is a Joint Commission Accredited non-profit community health system with locations currently in Wilmington, Northeast Wilmington, Newark, Bear/New Castle, and Dover providing care to 27,754 patients through 93,328 visits in 2019. Westside is the largest community health system in the state, providing family medical, dental, prenatal, and behavioral health services, regardless of ability to pay. Thirty-one percent of Westside Family Healthcare’s budget in 2019 comprised of Federal funds. Care is provided for all individuals, regardless of insurance status or ability to pay. Since March, Westside has been on the front lines responding to the COVID-19 public health emergency, supporting population health. Learn more about Westside at www.westsidehealth.org.
About Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield Delaware
Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield Delaware serves approximately 441,000 members through the company’s health care benefits business. It is an influential company in the market generating an economic impact of $135 million and supporting more than 1,000 direct and indirect jobs across the state. Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield Delaware is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, an association of independent Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies. For more information, visit www.highmarkbcbsde.com.
Media Contact:
Maggie Norris-Bent
Director of External Affairs
(302) 656-8292/ 302-584-0654 (cell)
maggie.norris-bent@westsidehealth.org
