Giving Back to Our Communities

Fidelis Care and the Centene Foundation Award $1.1 Million to The Jed Foundation to Protect the Mental Health of New York’s Youth

Funding will help expand emotional well-being resources, educational workshops, and training programs for community-based organizations that foster communities of care statewide

September 20, 2024, NEW YORK CITY — Fidelis Care, a leading health insurer providing quality, affordable coverage to New Yorkers, and the Centene Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Centene Corporation, announced today a $1.1 million grant to The Jed Foundation (JED), a national nonprofit that protects emotional health and prevents suicide for teens and young adults.

With this grant, JED will expand its current services, providing at least five youth-serving community-based organizations (CBOs) with consultation or strategic planning services, including expert guidance, educational workshops, and training programs, equipping young people with life skills and connecting them to mental health care when they are in distress.

“We are thrilled to support the vital work of The Jed Foundation with this grant,” said Vincent Marchello, Chief Medical Officer at Fidelis Care. “At Fidelis Care, we recognize the importance of mental health services in creating healthier communities. This investment underscores our commitment to ensuring youth and adolescents have access to the critical support they need to thrive.”

According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), it is currently estimated that nearly one in five 12- to 17-year-olds in the United States experience a major depressive episode every year, and almost half of teens 13 to 17 say they would seek out professional help only as a last resort. In New York State, the need for enhanced mental health support for school-aged youth is critical: in 2021, 57% of New York 12- to 17-year-olds with depression had not received any care in the last year.

“JED is grateful to Fidelis Care and the Centene Foundation for their commitment to supporting the emotional well-being of New York youth and for providing the resources to help them thrive,” said John MacPhee, JED Chief Executive Officer. “This partnership will allow us to bring JED’s lifesaving work to community-based organizations across the state and help them build on their mental health safety nets and approaches, while positively impacting the lives of thousands of young people.”

The inaugural group of CBOs includes Bottom Line, an organization that partners with degree-aspiring students from first-generation and low-income backgrounds as they get into and through college and launch mobilizing first careers; Hetrick-Martin Institute, which provides free, year-round programs and services for LGBTQIA+ youth and allies aged 13 to 24 in New York City; and Prep for Prep, which provides first-rate educational, leadership development and professional advancement opportunities for young people of color in New York City.

"Through decades of experience at Bottom Line, we have seen that the condition of a student's mental health plays a significant role in their overall journey to becoming a college graduate and professional,” said Sheneita R. Graham, Director of Culturally Responsive Programming at Bottom Line. “Our role at Bottom Line is to build strong relationships that assist us in determining need and connecting students to resources that will help them thrive personally to persist academically. Partnering with The Jed Foundation grants us the opportunity to expertly assess our mental health policies, processes, and resources to ensure we provide our students with thoughtful, high-quality support."

"Hetrick-Martin Institute is pleased to be working with The Jed Foundation to improve our ability to recognize young people in distress and conduct suicide risk assessments," said Bridget Hughes, Chief Program Officer at Hetrick-Martin Institute.

"We are so grateful to The Jed Foundation for hosting two workshops for our incoming college freshmen as part of our annual College Transition Retreat,” said Corey Rhoades, Director of Undergraduate Affairs at Prep for Prep. “The presenters shared their expertise and tailored the sessions in a way that was uniquely relevant and engaging for our students."

To learn more about ways to provide community-based organizations with consulting, evidence-based best practices, and data-driven guidance to protect youth mental health and prevent suicide, visit JED’s website .

Screener Program Provides Support to Families Impacted by Social Determinants of Health

SDoH-chart

Fidelis Care’s innovative SDoH screener program was launched two years ago as a grassroots health equity initiative to address conditions in the environments where people are born, live, work, and play that affect their health, well-being, and quality of life. Social Determinants of Health can affect a wide range of health risks and outcomes – particularly among vulnerable populations and in underserved areas.

The screener enables trained Fidelis Care representatives to assess an individual’s immediate needs and challenges related to SDoH through a brief series of questions covering areas such as access to transportation, food, and secure and safe housing. More than 450,000 Fidelis Care members have participated to date.

Click here to learn more about the different Social Determinants of Health and find available resources.

Learn how Fidelis Care impacts the communities we are privileged to serve.

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Show Your Heart Some Love This February

2/24/2022 • Posted by Dr. Camille Pearte, Cardiologist in Health and Wellness, In The Community

Living-with-Sickle-Cell-Fidelis-Care-Support

Think prevention to lower your risk for heart disease

Heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women in the United States. This Heart Month, it’s a good time to do what it takes to take care for your heart – before it needs a serious intervention. By acting now, you can keep your heart beating stronger and longer – that’s a Valentine to really make your loved ones happy.

• What are the key screenings for monitoring cardiovascular health?

Fortunately, a large portion of heart disease is preventable. While we can’t control things like our age or family history, there are several risk factors for heart disease that can be controlled to keep your heart healthy. Here are key areas that must be checked and monitored for a healthy heart:

Physical exam: Have your heart listened to at your regular doctor’s visits
Blood pressure: Get your blood pressure checked every time you see your doctor and at least once a year. The goal is a blood pressure less than 120/80 mm Hg.
Cholesterol: Get a fasting lipid profile (total, HDL, and LDL cholesterol) checked at least every four to six years, or more often if you are at higher risk.
Blood sugar: Get a fasting blood glucose test or a hemoglobin A1c level checked to screen for diabetes and prediabetes at least every three years.
Weight and Body Mass Index (BMI): Make sure you’re at a healthy body weight and composition for your height.
Lifestyle habits: Stop smoking, increase your physical activity, and eat a healthy diet.

• What are causes of congestive heart failure?

Your body needs to pump blood forward to keep up with your physical needs. Congestive heart failure is a specific type of heart failure that occurs when the heart can’t pump blood forward well enough. As a result, blood tries to return to the heart and backs up in the body. This can cause swelling in the legs from the extra fluid in the veins, and shortness of breath from extra fluid buildup in the lungs.

Any condition that causes damage to the heart muscle or that makes the heart work harder over a period of time can cause heart failure. The most common conditions that lead to heart failure are coronary artery disease, high blood pressure, and previous heart attacks. Coronary artery disease (build-up of plaque in the heart arteries) decreases the blood supply to the heart muscle, which weakens it over time. When an artery gets completely blocked, causing a heart attack, the damaged heart muscle tissue does not work well, and the heart is weakened overall. When the heart has to work much harder than normal against high blood pressure, the heart gets larger and weaker over time.

Other conditions that can cause heart failure are valve disease (abnormal heart valves that don't open or close properly), prolonged abnormal heart rhythms, heart defects at birth (congenital heart disease), severe lung disease, and any disease that affects the heart muscles such as infections, drugs/toxins, or genetic disorders. Diabetes, obesity, and sleep apnea (disordered breathing during sleep) also increase the risk for heart failure.

• What does it mean to have a heart murmur? Are heart murmurs serious health conditions?

A heart murmur is a sound your doctor can hear when listening to your heart. Some murmurs can be innocent, just from the blood flowing normally through the valves and chambers of the heart. These innocent flow murmurs are common in children and can go away or remain as you get older. They are not considered harmful or serious.

Abnormal heart murmurs are most often caused by valve disease, when a heart valve is not opening or closing properly. The murmur is the sound of the blood either leaking backwards at the time when it should be closed, or of blood squeezing through a tight opening when the valve should be open.

Less often, murmurs can be caused by abnormal defects between the chambers of the heart or conditions when there is increased blood flow in the body (such as exercise, pregnancy, fever, overactive thyroid, or anemia).

Murmurs are graded by intensity (loudness) from 1 to 6. Abnormal heart murmurs can be evaluated further with additional testing and evaluation by a specialist.

- By Dr. Camille Pearte, Cardiologist

Heart Month is the perfect time to think about ways to keep your heart healthy all year long. Regular wellness visits with your doctor, monitoring risk factors for heart disease, and having a healthy diet and regular exercise routine are key. According to the Centers for Disease Control, approximately 80% of cardiovascular disease is preventable. For more information on how to keep your heart healthy, visit the CDC’s web page on preventing heart disease.

For more information visit the American Heart Association information pages on heart disease: https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics