UnitedHealthcare has awarded $1.95 million in grants to local organizations that are expanding social services to address some of Wisconsin's key social determinants of health, like food security.
Grant recipients include:
- Feeding Wisconsin to increase access to fresh produce at local food banks and food pantries statewide.
- DentaMed, Children's Health Alliance of Wisconsin and VisionQuest 20/20 to work with school districts to offer dental screenings, dental-restorative procedures and vision screenings on-site or through new mobile clinics.
UnitedHealthcare has long been a proponent of addressing barriers that prevent individuals and families from focusing on their health and wellness. Issues such as food insecurity, a lack of access to basic preventive health screenings, social isolation, financial instability and homelessness all play a role in health and wellness.
"For many people, it's not just genetic code that plays a role in their health status; it's a full range of social factors," said Ellen Sexton, CEO, UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Wisconsin. "It's difficult for people to improve their health, build primary-care relationships and address preventive health care needs if they can't feed their families or don't have stable housing. We understand the vital need for communities to address the social determinants of health that affect people's health and quality of life."
In addition to UnitedHealthcare's support in Wisconsin and related efforts in Arizona, Texas, Missouri and Louisiana, the company has launched community initiatives and participated in numerous public-private partnerships nationwide to address social determinants of health. Since 2011, UnitedHealthcare has invested more than $350 million to help finance and build 54 affordable-housing communities in Wisconsin and 13 other states, creating more than 2,700 new homes for individuals and families. The United Health Foundation has committed more than $3.5 million in philanthropic grants in Wisconsin since 2017.
On July 25, to celebrate and support the new initiatives, hundreds of UnitedHealthcare employee volunteers will participate in a day of service sorting, packing and loading fresh food at four different Feeding Wisconsin food banks across the state.
About UnitedHealthcare
UnitedHealthcare is dedicated to helping people live healthier lives and making the health system work better for everyone by simplifying the health care experience, meeting consumer health and wellness needs, and sustaining trusted relationships with care providers. In the United States, UnitedHealthcare offers the full spectrum of health benefit programs for individuals, employers, and Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, and contracts directly with more than 1.2 million physicians and care professionals, and 6,500 hospitals and other care facilities nationwide. The company also provides health benefits and delivers care to people through owned and operated health care facilities in South America. UnitedHealthcare is one of the businesses of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH), a diversified health care company. For more information, visit UnitedHealthcare at www.uhc.com or follow @UHC on Twitter.
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