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Hello, everyone. This is Jacob Emerson with the

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Becker's Pay Your Issues podcast. Thrilled today to

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be joined by a special guest. Melissa Skotigard

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is the chair of the Cigna Group Foundation.

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Melissa, thank you so much for taking the

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time to sit down with us on the

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podcast today. Thank you. Thanks for having me,

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Jacob.

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Well, Melissa, we're super glad to have you

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join us for the recording today. But before

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we dive into everything we wanna talk with

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you about, can you tell us a little

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bit more about yourself, your background in health

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care, and what it is that you're doing

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today at the Cigna Group?

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Terrific.

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So, Jacob, again, thank you for having me.

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So today, I had communications at the Cigna

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Group, I've been in communications here since 2018,

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and I also have the privilege of serving

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as the chair of the Cigna Group Foundation

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and heading our community programs.

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I'll note though that I started my career

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way back many, many, many years ago

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in social work. I worked with the mentally

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ill and I worked with with homeless families.

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So what I love about what I get

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to do today is I really get to

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drive systemic change in health care with my

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role

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and leading the foundation.

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And I also get to

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work grassroots

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as a board member at Make A Wish

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Connecticut, something I'm really passionate about.

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So I get to blend both systemic change

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in health care with being active,

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at the at the grassroots level.

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Fantastic.

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So a long history with the Cigna Group.

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And as part of that, from what I

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understand, the company has launched

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a refreshed community engagement strategy that started last

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year.

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Tell us a little bit more about that.

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What does that entail, and and what's happening

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with that this year?

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Yeah. Good. Great. Thanks for the question. So

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yes, we launched a refresh community engagement strategy

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about a year ago now, and for us,

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we took a step back

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coming out of the pandemic

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and really looked at our programs. A lot

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of things were changing in the environment.

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And I'll just couple I'll just cite a

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couple of them.

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First is

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our employees were coming back into the office,

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and what we found was our employees really

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wanted to get involved in the community

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and have more

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collaboration

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and team activities

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with their colleagues, and volunteerism

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is a great way to do it.

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So that was that was kind of number

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one for us. Number two was the nature

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of nonprofits

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themselves

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changed through the pandemic,

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and the needs of community organizations,

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changed.

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So that was also

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a force of change.

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The third dynamic

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for the Cigna group was we had a

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couple of signature programs that we put into

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place

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actually at the beginning of the pandemic.

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One in particular called healthier kids for our

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future,

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which was a five year commitment. And that

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program came to its natural end.

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And so we had an opportunity to take

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a step back and look at refreshing our

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strategy.

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With that, we decided

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to to really go after best practices

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and look at fewer grants

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and bigger grants so that we could have

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more impact

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and outcomes with our community partners.

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The other thing I'd mention is again our

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employees really wanted to get involved in community

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activities and so for us

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we stepped back and took a pivot to

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focus on three primary areas of giving

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instead of one signature program with Healthier Kids

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for our Future.

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So those three areas are

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one, youth mental health.

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Two is a focus on veterans and in

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particular housing and security for veterans,

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and the third is around health equity.

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The way that we got to those three

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really was aligning around our business priorities and

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focus. So starting with what do we do

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and how can we make an impact.

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Secondly,

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is where our employee passions are, and third

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is where our customers are based. So we

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also looked at,

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our customers,

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and we looked at data around where we

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have high and very high social determinants of

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health needs

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and tried to prioritize our focus, in that

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way.

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Got it. Understood. So your employees were or

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they were coming back to the office post

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pandemic. You wanted them more involved in in

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the foundation's work. Nonprofit needs a change post

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pandemic, and and, ultimately, you're looking to make

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a bigger impact. So

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take us through why why the foundation chose

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the specific commitments that it did,

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and what are some of the goals associated

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with with each one of those? Perfect.

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So I'll start with the first one, youth

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mental health. And and I'm a parent, a

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parent of two teenagers.

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So this is certainly near and dear to

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my heart.

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Again, coming out of the pandemic, we saw

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as as a nation in a global community

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arise in

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youth mental health and the needs around around

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mental health. In fact, I, the CDC just

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had a study that one in five high

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school students considered suicide in 2023.

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That's alarming. That's alarming as a parent, and

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it's it's alarming as as just

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a leader and a community leader.

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Secondly,

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on veterans,

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so switching to veterans,

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this one is also critically important. Veterans are

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experiencing

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housing instability

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and they have increased odds of mental distress

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and also

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suicide.

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So again, uphill battles, some incredible barriers facing

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veterans,

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forty thousand veterans go without shelter on any

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given night in The US.

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And so really focusing on,

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housing and security is the focus there.

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The third is around health equity. And we

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know that 80% of a person's health is

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affected by things outside of the doctor's office.

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So think about things like healthy foods,

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transportation,

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getting to to the doctor, and

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health literacy

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are absolutely

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essential.

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So we focused on that third area around

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health equity

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for that reason.

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I would just also call out that we

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looked at again where we have

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customers

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and patients of the Cigna group

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and according to our data where there's high

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and very high social determinants of health risks.

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And we also focused further

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based on that data in 10 states

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and limited international

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support

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because we don't have unlimited resources.

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So in addition to the three areas of

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focus that I,

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spoke about, also where we focus,

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from a geographic

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standpoint, we also,

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zeroed in on so that we could have

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bigger impact

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in fewer states

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and in fewer areas of focus.

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Alright. Well, understood, Melissa. So teen mental health

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issues, veterans care, health equity, all clearly a

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top priority,

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for the for the foundation right now. Can

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you expand on any of these initiatives for

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us?

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What how how many in terms of the

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grants, how large they are that are going

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to these groups, and and any feedback you're

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hearing, on the ground,

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from some of the the people that you're

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serving.

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Yeah. Certainly.

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Thanks for the question.

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So we have committed more than 27,000,000

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in grants over three years.

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That number, Jacob, varies year to year. So

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I'm not going to give you a hard

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and fast number of how many grants we'll

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give go forward because we really look at

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who are the right partners,

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and based on the applications that come in.

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I will though give you just a couple

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of examples

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to the nonprofits

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and we've had 60 grants,

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so far.

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Just a few examples to call out. So

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in the youth bucket,

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the McCall Foundation, which is here in Connecticut,

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which is where I'm based, they have a

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new Spanish speaking clinical team and expanded access

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to culturally appropriate care

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to residents in the Waterbury, Connecticut area.

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And from a national perspective, we've partnered up

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with the Boys and Girls Club of America

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as a national partner for youth commitment. And

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in fact, I was just in the boys

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and girls club in Pasadena

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last week.

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And that particular club, as you might imagine,

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with the recent wildfires

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in the area,

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the the club kids, they are facing just

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incredible

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hardship, and that club is a lifeline for

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those children.

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More than 70 families in that club have

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been impacted

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by the fires. People have lost their homes

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and also schools in the area,

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have been lost. So the Boys and Girls

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Club is a really important partner for us,

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and an amazing nonprofit that just does incredible

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work across The US.

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In the veterans area, a couple of examples.

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Operation Finally Home

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provides homes and and home modifications

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for wounded, ill, and injured veterans and first

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responders and their families

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in Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Tennessee, and Texas.

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So again, that's that's in veterans.

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In health equity we focused in two communities

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really trying to go deeper into

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specific communities

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and again looked at data based on the

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social determinants of health needs and so those

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two communities are Houston where we're focused on

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obesity and diabetes

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and Hartford which is really focused around

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access to care, how do we get to

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primary care, so think mobile vans, really helping

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to make sure people can get to the

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care that that they need.

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So those two were stood up actually last,

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those two community programs were stood up last,

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and a couple of grantee partners include Bread

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of Life,

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the Hispanic Health Coalition and that's in Houston,

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And in Hartford,

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the Hartford Public Library,

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Malta House, and Wheeler Clinic have been amazing

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partners,

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for us as well.

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Wow. Well, clearly, such creative

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and impactful work going on in communities

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all over the country, and it's it's interesting

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to hear you talk about how data driven

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this process is as well for you all.

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Melissa, earlier in our conversation, you were talking

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about how you you've really worked to get

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more Cigna employees involved in this important work.

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Can you can you talk to us a

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little bit more about that? How are employees

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involved directly in in this all, and and

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why is it so important ultimately?

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Yeah. So,

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for our employees,

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it it really is

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volunteerism is part of who we are. It

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is a pillar of our values

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and and why people come to work here

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is our focus on community and giving back.

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As you would expect from a health services

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company, it just is a fabric of who

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we are.

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And coming again, out of the pandemic, what

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we found with our employees is a big

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desire

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to really be engaged

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and be active in in the community.

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Through the pandemic, many people,

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certainly myself included,

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I felt an absence

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of being connected to the community

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in the way that I can through volunteerism.

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Still could be active through things like, you

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know, online programs and and writing letters and

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making calls to

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elderly,

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shut ins. So certainly, it was active,

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but,

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our folks really wanted to get much more

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hands on and engage with each other.

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We also,

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put some more of our resources

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and our grant dollars behind our

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employees,

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giving back. So if our employees,

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volunteer a certain amount of time,

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we will donate,

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small grants on their behalf to nonprofits in

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recognition of that volunteer time.

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So again, for us, it's just about tremendous

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pride and as a result of the programs

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that we put into place, we saw almost

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a 30%

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year over year increase in volunteerism

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between 2024

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and 2023.

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And not only is that good for our

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employee morale and productivity,

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but it also equates to more than 5,600,000

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in economic value right back into the communities

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in recognition of that time.

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Wow. I mean, it's amazing to hear. That's

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such an enterprise wide focus for you all.

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Before we go, Melissa, what else are we

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missing? Any final thoughts or final bits of

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advice you wanna offer the other health care

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leaders listening in right now?

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Yeah. Look, this is not easy to pivot.

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A company is giving,

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giving grants and and volunteers and is incredibly

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personal

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to to people. People care deeply

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about

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causes in the community.

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But I would advocate

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to other leaders

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and

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business leaders

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to not be afraid of change,

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to really be guided by data and to

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help understand where your dollars can have the

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most impact,

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and also to

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really tap into your employees.

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At least for for the Cigna group, our

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people want to do even more. And so

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tapping into that employee pride and engaging them,

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I think, is is also

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something I would advise.

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Wonderful. Well, Melissa, thank you so much for

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taking the time to sit down with us

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and for sharing a little bit about the

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important work that's going on under your leadership.

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We really appreciate it. Thanks, Jacob.

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And if you'd like to listen to more

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podcasts from Becker's Health Care, you can visit

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beckershospitalreview.com.