INDIANAPOLIS, March 21, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- In response to the tsunami in Japan and the resulting humanitarian needs, WellPoint, Inc. today announced its corporate Foundation will make a $50,000 contribution to AmeriCares for disaster relief. The WellPoint Foundation funds will provide medicine, medical supplies and aid to those in need.
A nonprofit aid organization, AmeriCares provides disaster relief, medical supplies and health care assistance across the globe.
"The WellPoint Foundation is committed to improving the health and well-being of individuals and families in our communities," said Lance Chrisman, executive director of the WellPoint Foundation. "As global citizens we have been terribly saddened by the images and news coming out of Japan and are pleased to be able to contribute to the worldwide relief effort."
In addition to the Foundation grant, WellPoint will encourage its associates to make individual donations to AmeriCares or the American Red Cross to help the people of Japan.
The WellPoint Foundation has been a consistent, proactive supporter of first-responder organizations providing relief and medical assistance in the wake of major disasters. Recent relief efforts supported by the WellPoint Foundation include the international responses to the earthquake in Haiti, natural disasters in China and Myanmar, and Hurricane Katrina.
Separate from supporting relief efforts, each year WellPoint, its Foundation and its associates donate tens of millions of dollars to help meet the health and economic development needs of communities across the country. WellPoint's work in its communities is conducted not only through the hundreds of programs and grants it supports each year, but also its annual, companywide Community Service Day and Associate Giving Campaign. Additional information about WellPoint's public health and social responsibility efforts is available at www.wellpointcorporateresponsibility.com.
About WellPoint, Inc.
WellPoint works to simplify the connection between Health, Care and Value. We help to improve the health of our communities, deliver better care to members, and provide greater value to our customers and shareholders. WellPoint is the nation's largest health benefits company in terms of medical enrollment, with more than 33 million members in its affiliated health plans, and a total of more than 69 million individuals served through all subsidiaries. As an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, WellPoint serves members as the Blue Cross licensee for California; the Blue Cross and Blue Shield licensee for Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Missouri (excluding 30 counties in the Kansas City area), Nevada, New Hampshire, New York (as the Blue Cross Blue Shield licensee in 10 New York City metropolitan and surrounding counties and as the Blue Cross or Blue Cross Blue Shield licensee in selected upstate counties only), Ohio, Virginia (excluding the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C.), and Wisconsin. In a majority of these service areas, WellPoint does business as Anthem Blue Cross, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia, Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield, or Empire Blue Cross (in the New York service areas). WellPoint also serves customers throughout the country as UniCare. Additional information about WellPoint is available at www.wellpoint.com.
About The WellPoint Foundation
The WellPoint Foundation is the philanthropic arm of WellPoint, Inc. and through charitable contributions and programs, the Foundation promotes the inherent commitment of WellPoint, Inc. to enhance the health and well-being of individuals and families in communities that WellPoint, Inc. and its affiliated health plans serve. The Foundation focuses its funding on strategic initiatives that address and provide innovative solutions to health care challenges, as well as promoting the Healthy Generations Program, a multi-generational initiative that targets specific disease states and medical conditions. These disease states and medical conditions include: prenatal care in the first trimester, low birth weight babies, cardiac morbidity rates, long term activities that decrease obesity and increase physical activity, diabetes prevalence in adult populations, adult pneumococcal and influenza vaccinations and smoking cessation. The Foundation also coordinates the company's annual associate giving campaign and provides a 50 percent match of associates' campaign pledges. To learn more about the WellPoint Foundation, please visit www.wellpointfoundation.org.
SOURCE WellPoint, Inc.