BLUE CROSS BLUE SHIELD OF MASSACUSETTS ANNOUNCES 8th ANNUAL WILLIAM C. VAN FAASEN COMMUNITY SERVICE SABBATICAL FELLOW

Jessica Eves, Medford resident and 4 year associate in Strategic Services at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (BCBSMA) has been selected as the eighth William C. Van Faasen Community Service Sabbatical Fellow.

Jessica will be working with the Codman Square Health Center and Codman Academy Charter Public School in Dorchester through April 2014. Codman Square Health Center opened its doors in 1979 with a mission to bring health and wellness to the community.   In 2001 its leader helped co-found and launch Codman Academy, the only school within a health center in the country, to help address poverty through education.  The School has traditionally educated 9th-12th grade students, serving those who come from some of Boston’s lowest-performing middle schools. Codman Academy was recently approved to expand to K-8. The partnership between the Health Center and Academy, winner of the Mayor’s inaugural Prize in Primary Care, is a unique model that has received national attention due to its incorporation of healthy living into school life. Students at the Academy receive health care services at the Health Center and also intern there.

“Jessica will lead Codman Square Health Center and Codman Academy in designing and documenting a model for the development of co-located health center/school partnerships that will help students grow academically and develop a positive culture of health,” said Jeff Bellows, Vice President of Corporate Citizenship at BCBSMA. “At the completion of Jessica’s sabbatical, the model will be disseminated both locally and nationally to other health centers, schools and related organizations.”

“We are so excited to have Jessica working with us on a full time basis for the next six months,” said Sandra Cotterell, CEO, Codman Square Health Center. “Her expertise will really help us capture the essence of this partnership and develop a health and education blueprint that will have a sustainable impact on students, patients, health center staff, and beyond. We are excited to be able to use Jessica’s work to share our partnership successes with a hope for replication on a national scale.”

In 2005, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts' Board of Directors created the sabbatical program to honor former CEO, Bill Van Faasen. The William C. Van Faasen Community Service Sabbatical Program makes it possible for one associate per year to take a leave of absence and work full-time for a nonprofit organization for a period of three to six months. Sabbatical recipients engage in projects that create long-lasting change within the community. Throughout the leave period, the Sabbatical associate's regular base pay continues with no interruption in benefits. The program offers development opportunities that the associate can bring back to the company as well.  

About Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (http://www.bluecrossma.com) is a community-focused, tax-paying, not-for-profit health plan headquartered in Boston. We are committed to working with others in a spirit of shared responsibility to make quality health care affordable. Consistent with our corporate promise to always put our 2.8 million members first, we are rated among the nation's best health plans for member satisfaction and quality. BCBSMA also has a strong commitment to the community. In 2012 alone, more than 3,000 of our associates contributed more than 26,600 volunteer service hours to nonprofit organizations across the Commonwealth, the company contributed more than $1.6 billion to the Massachusetts economy and gave nearly $6.3 million in philanthropic contributions to 560 nonprofit organizations. To learn more about BCBSMA’s Corporate Citizenship efforts, visit BlueCrew @ Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts on Facebook or our annual Corporate Citizenship Report.