Virginia Beach, VA - June 19, 2008 - Optima Health’s Family Care Program, one of Virginia’s largest Medicaid Managed Care Organizations, was awarded the 2008 Community Leadership Award from America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) for its Girls Community Basketball Program. The award was presented at AHIP’s annual meeting, Institute 2008, in San Francisco, California on June 18, 2008.
This not the first time the program has received recognition for outstanding community service. In 2004 the program received a similar award from the Urban League of Hampton Roads (view article).
The Community Leadership Awards showcase organizations that demonstrate excellence in community outreach by identifying a specific problem in their community, establishing creative paths to address the problem and successfully leading community partnerships toward collaborative solutions.
Optima Health launched the Girls Community Basketball Program in 1998 in partnership with the Norfolk Department of Neighborhood & Leisure Services. The program has since expanded to serve more than 1,400 at-risk middle school girls in 31 cities and counties throughout the state of Virginia.
“Providing an outlet, and increasing health risk awareness for these kids has been our first priority, so to receive accolades for the work we do tells us that we are meeting a need,” says Sylvia Whitaker, regional marketing manager with Optima Health Family Care.
The program combines health education with sports to promote healthy lifestyle decisions. Using a curriculum from the Healthwise Handbook, which is provided by Optima Health’s Community Health & Prevention, the girls attend mandatory classes before each game. Additionally, the girls attend programs on a wide range of topics; exercise for cardiovascular health, asthma, diabetes, healthy eating, avoiding tobacco and drugs and sexual health.
"Teenagers need the information that we provide, as well as motivation and support to help them deal with issues in a positive and appropriate manner,” comments Michael M. Dudley, Optima Health president.
America’s Health Insurance Plans is the national association representing nearly 1,200 member companies providing health insurance coverage to more than 200 million Americans and providing a unified voice for the community health insurance plans. Member companies offer a wide-variety of insurance coverage to consumers, employers and public purchasers.
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