Baptist Health was recently awarded a $60,000 grant from the Blue & You Foundation. The grant will provide certified lactation training to 75 healthcare workers who will promote the benefits of breastfeeding. The money will be used in 2018 as the healthcare system works to achieve the Baby Friendly Designation through the Healthy Active Arkansas Baby Friendly Hospital program.
Baptist Health was one of 40 organizations to receive a portion of the foundation’s $2.3 million funding that will help health improvement programs in Arkansas.
“Our grants this year went to programs across the state that address such issues as nutrition and exercise, food insecurity, emergency medical services, and medical professional education,” said Patrick O’Sullivan, executive director of the Blue & You Foundation.
Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield established the Blue & You Foundation in 2001 as a charitable foundation which promotes better health in Arkansas. The foundation awards grants to nonprofit or governmental organizations and to programs that positively affect the health of Arkansans.
In its 16 years of operation, the Blue & You Foundation has awarded more than $30 million to 1,319 health improvement programs in Arkansas. This year, the foundation received 226 grant applications requesting $14 million in support. The 2018 grant selections were made by Blue & You Foundation board members Susan Brittain, Malvern; Robert V. Brothers, Lowell; Board Chairman Robert D. Cabe, Little Rock; Mark Greenway, Lowell; James V. Kelley, Little Rock; Carla Martin, Pine Bluff; and Dan Nabholz, Conway.
Shown in the photo, Patrick O’Sullivan, executive director of the Blue & You Foundation, makes an official presentation of the grant to the staff at Baptist Health's Women's Center and to Missy Lewis, chief development officer of the Baptist Health Foundation.