Fallon Community Health Plan and The Barton Center for Diabetes Education, Inc. launch initiative to promote diabetes screenings

Worcester, Mass., November 1, 2007—In recognition of National Diabetes Month, Fallon Community Health Plan today announced an initiative to promote annual screenings for FCHP members who have diabetes. The initiative, “Help yourself. Help others.” encourages FCHP members with diabetes to receive annual screenings. For every member who receives a screening in 2007, FCHP will donate $5 to The Barton Center for Diabetes Education, Inc., an organization dedicated to improving the lives of children with insulin dependent diabetes through education, recreation and support programs which inspire and empower.

“This is a win-win situation for both FCHP members and the children who attend The Barton Center,” said Eric H. Schultz, President and CEO, FCHP. “This initiative aligns directly with our mission of making our communities healthy, as it provides an incentive for our members to take care of themselves while doing something good for others.”
Annual screenings include HbA1c, LDL, retinal eye exam and nephropathy monitoring, and are important for those with diabetes to reduce the occurrence of complications, such as heart disease, blindness, kidney problems and, in some cases, lower-limb amputation. For an FCHP member to support The Barton Center, the member must provide FCHP documentation that shows he or she received all of the recommended screenings for people with diabetes in 2007. Once documentation is received, FCHP will make a donation, either anonymously or in the member’s name, to The Barton Center.

The Barton Center is the largest, independent camping and educational program in the country dedicated to children who live with diabetes and the people who care for them.

“We are extremely grateful to FCHP for choosing The Barton Center as beneficiary of the ‘Help Yourself. Help Others.’ initiative,” said Jonas Goldenberg, Executive Director, The Barton Center. “With FCHP’s support and the commitment of its members, we’ll be able to provide children living with diabetes the self-confidence and motivation they need to manage their condition.”

For more information, FCHP members can call 1-508-368-9206.

Lauren M. Petit
lauren.petit@fchp.org

Lynn Butler
lynn.butler@bartoncenter.org

About FCHP
Founded in 1977, Fallon Community Health Plan provides health care services designed to meet the unique and changing needs of all we serve. FCHP is the only health plan in Massachusetts that is both an insurer and provider of care. Our product portfolio includes a variety of group and individual health plan options (HMO, POS, PPO, Medicaid and Medicare Advantage plans) featuring flexible and innovative benefit designs. We administer fully-insured and self-insured funding arrangements with customized services for employers. Our uniquely developed provider networks offer high-quality, cost-effective, coordinated care and give our members access to doctors and hospitals throughout Massachusetts. We also offer a broad spectrum of services and programs to ensure our members, at every stage of life, remain as healthy and productive as possible. FCHP is a provider of care through its Summit ElderCareSM program, an advanced and completely integrated program that offers seniors and their caregivers an alternative to nursing home placement. Our continued commitment to deliver high-quality health care and exceptional customer service has earned FCHP consistent ratings as one of the nation’s top health plans, and in 2007, placed our Medicare and Medicaid health plans as the best in the nation. FCHP is the only health plan in Massachusetts to have been awarded “Excellent” Accreditation by the National Committee for Quality Assurance for our HMO, Medicare Advantage and Medicaid products.

About The Barton Center
The Barton Center for Diabetes Education, Inc., (www.bartoncenter.org), a non-profit organization, is the largest independent, year-round retreat Center in the U.S. dedicated to educating those who live with diabetes and their caregivers. Founded in 1932, the Center also operates one of the oldest summer camps in the country for children with Type 1 diabetes. Many of the campers are on scholarships. Close to 50,000 children have participated in Barton camping programs during the past 75 years.