Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation
Annual Report Fiscal Year 2012–2013
9
Health of Vulnerable Populations
It’s also opening eyes on a personal
level. “By the end of her appointment, I
was able to educate this mom about how
prioritizing her own oral health would
help her baby’s health, too. Once that
conversation started, I was really surprised
by how interested and engaged she was.
All it took was a chance to really talk with
her. She was obviously passionate about
doing what was best for her child. She
even hugged me when it was over.”
In 2012–2013, in addition to funding the
Schweitzer Fellowship, the Foundation
supported more than 25 safety net dental
clinics to improve access to care and
clinic sustainability. The $1.5M increase
in the bottom line for 10 of these clinics
translated into 21,000 more procedures for
5,700 more North Carolinians.
How do you address the health of
vulnerable populations?
Where do you begin? Helping North
Carolina’s most at-risk individuals and
families is a worthy goal, to be sure, but
there isn’t always a straight line from
where we are to where we want to go.
You could help solve this issue person
by person or work through the systems
that serve them. Our approach at the
Foundation is investing in the health care
safety net organizations so many North
Carolinians rely on.
These are organizations such as
community health centers, free clinics and
local health departments where people
with limited resources and nowhere
else to turn can get their diabetes under
control, have their dental problems fixed
or receive something as simple and
potentially life-saving as a flu shot.
This year, we’ve continued our focus on
improving access to care—and quality of
care. Both locally and on a system-wide
scale, we look to maximize our impact
through informed, carefully selected
and continually nurtured partnerships
with grantees. From our work with
the 85 member clinics of the North
Carolina Association of Free Clinics to the
development of a unique teaching health
center program, our grants are making a
As soon as I realized
what was going on
with this patient,
I froze.
Amanda Kilburn Kerns, BCBSNC Foundation Schweitzer Fellow
University of North Carolina School of Dentistry
To learn more about
The Albert Schweitzer
Fellowship, visit
SchweitzerFellowship.org
.
OF ALL NORTH
C A R O L I N I A N S
IS
UNINSURED
ONE
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IN
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