CVS Health Foundation awards Women & Infants Hospital $1M
CVS Health and its foundation announced a $1 million grant to support the Women & Infants Hospital’s ongoing work to increase access to maternal health services, including programming to expand its workforce and launch a new postpartum mobile unit.
“Our commitment to women’s health includes improving access to the services needed for a healthy pregnancy, birth and postpartum care,” said Sheryl Burke, senior vice president of corporate social responsibility and chief sustainability officer at CVS Health. “By supporting the Women & Infants Hospital, we hope to strengthen their incredible work to ensure our neighbors receive consistent and high-quality care where and when they need it most.”
As part of the Women & Infants Hospital’s WIH ECHO programming umbrella, the CVS Health Foundation grant will help hire additional staff to support its Postpartum Hypertension Equity Program, which started in 2022. The program provides blood pressure cuffs and training to all eligible patients before discharge to better understand when to seek medical attention in the comfort of their own homes. Patients continually highlight the program as life-changing, and it has already significantly reduced patients returning to the Emergency Department with hypertension-related complications.
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“This grant from CVS Health allows the Women & Infants Hospital to continue successful programs like our Postpartum Hypertension Equity Program and build upon that progress to expand reach into the community,” said Methodius G. Tuuli, chief of obstetrics and gynecology at Women & Infants Hospital. “This initial investment in WIH ECHO will benefit Rhode Islanders for years to come.”
Knowing 80% of the Rhode Island community delivers at the Women & Infants Hospital, the grant will also support their new mobile van, which will help remove transportation as a barrier to receiving postpartum care. The mobile van will offer various services, including hypertension management, contraceptive counseling, mental health screening and breastfeeding support.
With nearly 6,000 employees working across the state, in its corporate offices, distribution centers, or delivering care through 60 pharmacies, dozens of MinuteClinic, specialty pharmacy and Oak Street Health locations, and for a million Aetna members, supporting Rhode Island is part of CVS Health’s passion to build a world of health around every community it calls home.
CVS Health granted $3.8 million last year to support organizations in Rhode Island working to expand access to health services and provide individuals with supportive services like workforce training, education and healthy food. In addition to the grants, the company offers free health screenings to the Rhode Island community through its Project Health program throughout the year. Participants often refer to the program as ‘a lifesaver’ and an opportunity to take control of their health, CVS Health noted.
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In 2023, CVS Health hosted 45 Project Health events in Rhode Island and screened 1,701 participants, which resulted in 5,954 screenings. 70% of participants had at least one screening result that was out of range. All participants have an on-site consultation with a nurse practitioner and are provided with a directory of local health care providers and resources following the screenings.