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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.

Fidelis-JED-Social


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.


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Women’s History Month: A Pioneering Influence
3/25/2024 • Posted by Andrea Hurley-Lynch, LMSW, Fidelis Care HARP Clinical Director in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, In The Community

Women's History Month

As I reflect upon my life’s journey this Women’s History Month, I note several women who have influenced my career path. I am very blessed to have had a supportive mother, two grandmothers, and aunts who all prided themselves in working and caring for their families. They were active in the community and church as volunteers. I watched every single woman in my family hold a career and manage to take care of their household seamlessly. As a young girl, at every family event, I saw nurses, teachers, principals, researchers, political activists, and medical professionals all around me. Going to college was never a journey that I personally questioned. What I did question was, “What am I supposed to be?”

2024 marks my 20-year anniversary in the Social Work field. As a child, when I was asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” I remember not knowing the answer. In high school, when beginning the college application process, I met with my school counselor and was unsure of what I wanted to go to school for. I was given a questionnaire to take, and the questionnaire results pointed to the direction of social work. At that time, I did not even know what the field of social work truly meant. I volunteered at a soup kitchen in Buffalo and led canned good donation drives for my high school as a leader on the volunteer committee. I knew I felt a sense of purpose when helping others but did not realize this “feeling” would become my career path.

During my first year of college, I was ambivalent about my major. I knew that I liked learning about people, different cultures and belief systems, and enjoyed sociology, but there did not seem to be a career path for me in that realm. In the back of my mind, I remembered that questionnaire I had taken in high school that pointed to social work as a career and registered for Social Work 101 my sophomore year. It was in Social Work 101 that I learned of Jane Addams.

I think it is only fitting to reflect on Jane Addams, one of the pioneers in the social work field, and her impact on my career journey during the month of March, which happens to be not only Women’s History Month, but also National Social Work Month. Jane Addams was an American social worker and Nobel Peace Prize winner. She was a leader in the women’s suffrage movement and an advocate for the rights of the poor and immigrants. I connected with Jane’s story, as she also grew up in a family full of professionals, she was not sure of her career path, and ultimately decided she wanted to help people less fortunate than her. Jane lived in Chicago, where she opened Hull House, one of the first settlement houses in the United States. The home supported working class and immigrant families in a poor neighborhood that lacked access to education, childcare, and nutritious food. Families needed help and Hull House filled the gap.

The Fidelis Care HealthierLife – Health and Recovery Plan (HARP) program allows me to use my degree and my experience in case management and integrated care to provide help to our diverse membership. Continuing my career journey working with adults with health disparities at a macro level has allowed the opportunity to make a broader impact in my career across New York State. The membership that we serve often has medical, behavioral health, or substance use conditions combined with extremely complex social needs. Integration is key to supporting our members and I am grateful for my staff members who work tirelessly every day to advocate for our membership, set personalized member goals, coordinate care, and provide support during critical times in our members’ lives. My teams allow Jane Addams’ voice and vision to continue to be present in 2024 in continuous advocacy. Addams once said, “Nothing could be worse than the fear that one had given up too soon and left one unexpended effort that might have saved the world.”


Andrea Hurley-Lynch, LMSW, is the Fidelis Care HARP Clinical Director and oversees the HARP Care Management teams. The HARP teams provide telephonic care management to members living with various health conditions including severe and persistent mental illness, substance use, and chronic medical diagnoses. She holds a bachelor’s degree with a major in social work and minor in sociology from Nazareth University. She holds a master’s degree in social work from the State University at Buffalo.


Women’s History Month: A Pioneering Influence
3/25/2024 • Posted by Andrea Hurley-Lynch, LMSW, Fidelis Care HARP Clinical Director in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, In The Community

Women's History Month

As I reflect upon my life’s journey this Women’s History Month, I note several women who have influenced my career path. I am very blessed to have had a supportive mother, two grandmothers, and aunts who all prided themselves in working and caring for their families. They were active in the community and church as volunteers. I watched every single woman in my family hold a career and manage to take care of their household seamlessly. As a young girl, at every family event, I saw nurses, teachers, principals, researchers, political activists, and medical professionals all around me. Going to college was never a journey that I personally questioned. What I did question was, “What am I supposed to be?”

2024 marks my 20-year anniversary in the Social Work field. As a child, when I was asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” I remember not knowing the answer. In high school, when beginning the college application process, I met with my school counselor and was unsure of what I wanted to go to school for. I was given a questionnaire to take, and the questionnaire results pointed to the direction of social work. At that time, I did not even know what the field of social work truly meant. I volunteered at a soup kitchen in Buffalo and led canned good donation drives for my high school as a leader on the volunteer committee. I knew I felt a sense of purpose when helping others but did not realize this “feeling” would become my career path.

During my first year of college, I was ambivalent about my major. I knew that I liked learning about people, different cultures and belief systems, and enjoyed sociology, but there did not seem to be a career path for me in that realm. In the back of my mind, I remembered that questionnaire I had taken in high school that pointed to social work as a career and registered for Social Work 101 my sophomore year. It was in Social Work 101 that I learned of Jane Addams.

I think it is only fitting to reflect on Jane Addams, one of the pioneers in the social work field, and her impact on my career journey during the month of March, which happens to be not only Women’s History Month, but also National Social Work Month. Jane Addams was an American social worker and Nobel Peace Prize winner. She was a leader in the women’s suffrage movement and an advocate for the rights of the poor and immigrants. I connected with Jane’s story, as she also grew up in a family full of professionals, she was not sure of her career path, and ultimately decided she wanted to help people less fortunate than her. Jane lived in Chicago, where she opened Hull House, one of the first settlement houses in the United States. The home supported working class and immigrant families in a poor neighborhood that lacked access to education, childcare, and nutritious food. Families needed help and Hull House filled the gap.

The Fidelis Care HealthierLife – Health and Recovery Plan (HARP) program allows me to use my degree and my experience in case management and integrated care to provide help to our diverse membership. Continuing my career journey working with adults with health disparities at a macro level has allowed the opportunity to make a broader impact in my career across New York State. The membership that we serve often has medical, behavioral health, or substance use conditions combined with extremely complex social needs. Integration is key to supporting our members and I am grateful for my staff members who work tirelessly every day to advocate for our membership, set personalized member goals, coordinate care, and provide support during critical times in our members’ lives. My teams allow Jane Addams’ voice and vision to continue to be present in 2024 in continuous advocacy. Addams once said, “Nothing could be worse than the fear that one had given up too soon and left one unexpended effort that might have saved the world.”


Andrea Hurley-Lynch, LMSW, is the Fidelis Care HARP Clinical Director and oversees the HARP Care Management teams. The HARP teams provide telephonic care management to members living with various health conditions including severe and persistent mental illness, substance use, and chronic medical diagnoses. She holds a bachelor’s degree with a major in social work and minor in sociology from Nazareth University. She holds a master’s degree in social work from the State University at Buffalo.