Health & Fitness
Health and Fitness
Health and Fitness
Thu, February 5, 2009
Wed, February 4, 2009
Aetna Awards $208,000 to Colorado Nonprofits
GREENWOOD VILLAGE, Colo.--([ BUSINESS WIRE ])--Aetna (NYSE: [ AET ]) and the Aetna Foundation announced this week that they have awarded $208,000 to Colorado nonprofits in 2008.
Many of these nonprofits focus on areas that are of specific interest to Aetna and its Foundation, such as disease prevention, obesity and health screening.
"Helping people take control of their health is one of our main goals, so you'll find much of what we fund is directed toward that end," said Jeffrey Miller, market head for Aetna's Greenwood Village office.
The Colorado organizations that received Aetna and Aetna Foundation grants last year are:
- Aspen Center for Integral Health's -- 2008 Summer Health Symposium. The Center gathers and disseminates emerging ideas on health. Its mission is to educate the public, doctors and other health care professionals on validated healing therapies and prevention programs;
- Boys & Girls Club – Sports, Fitness and Recreation Core Fitness Sponsorship. This program encourages positive uses of leisure time, increased fitness levels, sportsmanship and development of skills in stress management. The Boys and Girls Clubs offers organized team sports as well as loosely organized sports to simply promote fun and healthy play;
- Catholic Health Initiatives – St. Anthony Nurse Practitioner Clinic. This clinic will begin to replace some of the services provided when the St. Anthony Family Medicine Residency closed its clinic on the St. Anthony Central site and moved to St. Anthony North;
- Chris Klug Foundation -- Summit for Life event, a pledge-based race where participants, using their own physical power on snowshoes or skis, ascend 3,267 vertical feet over 2.5 miles, emphasizing the fact that transplant recipients and living donors can lead active lives;
- Colorado Business Group on Health – 2nd Annual Colorado Culture of Health Conference: Exercising Fiscal Fitness. The program focuses on the relationship between a healthy workforce, a health community and a healthy bottom line. The day is designed to "recruit" metro area executives to lead by example and invest in addressing the health of their workforce;
- Colorado Foundation for Public Health and the Environment – 2008 Chronic Disease Conference. This two-day conference focused on trends in evidence-based interventions for the prevention, screening, treatment and management of cancer, cardiovascular disease, pulmonary disease and related risk factors;
- Concerts for Kids – Fifth Annual Concerts for Kids Benefit. This program benefits the Children's Hospital Foundation, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and the Denver Public Schools Foundation;
- Fisher House – This is a home-away-from-home for veterans or active duty military who are in the area to visit a hospitalized family member, or for the family of hospitalized veterans or active duty military;
- Gabby Krause Foundation – Bags of Fun. Bags of Fun are filled with educational, interactive and silly toys that give a child a better day, a smile and something to focus on other than illness. A bag is given to every child in the area who is either diagnosed with cancer or is awaiting a transplant;
- Lorenzen Cancer Foundation – Aetna Park to Park run. Funds raised through the event go toward promoting awareness, increasing education and furthering research for pancreatic cancer;
- Mile High United Way – Women's Leadership Luncheon. This supports a group of women who are committed to supporting United Way's three initiatives --- school readiness, youth success and adult self-sufficiency;
- Rocky Mountain Youth Clinics' Weight Management Clinic. Children and adolescents with a BMI at or above the 85 percent morbidity will be invited to join this comprehensive weight management program;
- Special Olympics Colorado – Summer Games 2009, a major fundraising event for Special Olympics Colorado. The event helps the organization's mission to provide year-round sports training and athletic competition for more than 8,500 athletes in the state;
- Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, Inc., which provides support group programming for military survivor families; and
- Women's Foundation of Colorado – Annual Gender Matters Luncheon. This is the chief fundraising event for the year for this organization dedicated to lifting women and girls to economic success.
About the Aetna Foundation
The Aetna Foundation is the independent charitable and philanthropic arm of Aetna, Inc. Founded in 1972, the Foundation seeks to help build healthy communities by funding initiatives that improve the quality of life where our employees and customers work and live.
The Foundation's giving is focused on health, diversity and employee community involvement, with broader programs in our home state of Connecticut. Since 1980, Aetna and the Aetna Foundation have contributed over $334 million in grants, sponsorships and social investments. In 2008, Aetna and the Aetna Foundation contributed more than $25 million nationally. Additional information about the Aetna Foundation is available at [ www.aetna.com/foundation ].
About Aetna
Aetna is one of the nation's leading diversified health care benefits companies, serving approximately 37.2 million people with information and resources to help them make better informed decisions about their health care. Aetna offers a broad range of traditional and consumer-directed health insurance products and related services, including medical, pharmacy, dental, behavioral health, group life and disability plan, and medical management capabilities and health care management services for medical plans. Our customers include employer groups, individuals, college students, part-time and hourly workers, health plans, governmental units, government-sponsored plans, labor groups and expatriates. For more information, see [ www.aetna.com ].
