Fallon Community Health Plan awards $15,000 to Notre Dame High School

Worcester, Mass., November 8, 2007—Fallon Community Health Plan (FCHP) will award $15,000 to Notre Dame High School (NDHS) in Lawrence, Mass., through its Community Benefits Grant Program. This funding will support the school’s College Readiness Program, which aims at providing support for students and their parents to ensure that 100 percent of enrolled students have the skills and confidence necessary for success in higher education upon graduation from NDHS. The school provides quality, college-preparatory education to youth throughout Greater Lawrence for whom access to culturally sensitive, innovative Catholic education might otherwise be beyond their means.

“At NDHS, we’re building upon the success of our first year with the program by refining the program’s activities to better meet the needs of students and parents,” said Steve Mook, Principal, NDHS. “Many parents are going through the college application process for the first time, so educating and counseling them is critical. With this program, we’re able to provide students with much more personalized support to greatly increase each student’s chance of college acceptance.”

NDHS opened its doors in the fall of 2004 to 80 freshman, hailing from communities throughout the greater Merrimack Valley. Under the direction of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, the school now educates 255 students from grades nine through twelve who represent the cultural diversity of the surrounding communities. A special component of Notre Dame High School is the work study program, which engages the business community in empowering highly motivated young people with professional skills.

“With the support of Fallon Community Health Plan, we’re able to continue to expand our College Readiness Program by increasing the number of visits to college campuses, visits from college representatives, colleges attending our ‘Taste of College’ fair, and the number of programs available for parents,” added Mook.

Every year, Fallon Community Health Plan seeks grant applications from non-profit organizations dedicated to improving the lives of youth in communities throughout Massachusetts.

“We’re proud to continue our support of Notre Dame High School and their College Readiness Program,” said Eric H. Schultz, President and CEO, FCHP. “The goal of this program is truly inspiring, and it’s great to see a high school that is so dedicated to ensuring that each and every one of their students has the opportunity and skill set for higher education after graduation.

Lauren M. Petit
lauren.petit@fchp.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.