News Stories

John Lumpkin, president of the BCBSNC Foundation, emphasized that the communities most at risk are the ones that have been adversely affected by public and private policies reflecting decades of disinvestment.

For Dr. John Scheitler, a primary care doctor in Gastonia, North Carolina, life feels like the movie Groundhog Day. Every day he tries to do right by his patients and hopes he’s done enough to keep himself and his family safe. But back in March, this didn’t feel routine.

After attending a filtration conference in late February, Dr. Behnam Pourdeyhimi returned to North Carolina determined to create filters for masks at North Carolina State University (NC State). “At the conference,” he said, “we already knew the pandemic was coming. It was all we could talk about.”

A few people on the BNC list are prominent figures in North Carolina, including CEOs Ellison, Tunde Sotunde of Blue Cross and Blue Shield, and Gene Woods of Atrium Health...Sotunde, 55, took the job last June in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, which reflected higher infection and death rates among minorities. The executive’s international roots and accomplishments as a physician and businessman should enable him to help “reshape health care,” Blue Cross Chair Frank Holding Jr. said at his hiring. It’s the state’s largest insurer with more than 3.7 million members.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, the Charlotte Motor Speedway and the Latin American Chamber of Commerce of Charlotte (LACCC) are teaming up to provide meals to those in need within the Charlotte community.

Across North Carolina, a total of 21 community health mini-grants were awarded, totaling nearly $100,000. These community organizations and companies will be working to improve heart health among North Carolinians who are most at risk for cardiovascular diseases and stroke.

We know racism and discrimination lead to health disparities and impacts the health and safety of our employees, members and communities. Health inequity impacts all North Carolinians. North Carolina is consistently in the lower percentile of state health rankings. *Data shows our state’s health system ranked #36 of 50 states and #46 of 50 states for disparities.

H.O.P.E. of Winston-Salem (H.O.P.E.) announced that it has received $20,000 from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (Blue Cross NC) to help fund nutritious meals for children living in food deserts across Forsyth County.

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