Blue Cross Employees Volunteer at New St. Paul Tabernacle Church, Remove Barriers to Health Awareness
Ashley Hennen
| 2 min read
The holiday season has always been a great time to volunteer and connect with your community. This year, our holiday season coincided with the 2015 open enrollment period. BCBSM employees have been busy volunteering in all sorts of ways… But knowing how important it is to have health insurance and the barriers that exist to health awareness, several Blue Cross employees made their way over to New St. Paul Tabernacle Church in Detroit. The mission? To help congregation members understand their options for affordable health care and promote health education resources. Trina Crenshaw manned the table with health care enrollment information, contact cards requesting sign up assistance and health-related educational materials. Speaking with both potential and current BCBSM members, Trina was there to help alleviate some confusion and myths about health care reform and answer questions people had about getting coverage.
“Partnering with the faith-based community to address the health access needs of underserved populations is a worthy cause, and I believe that an interactive learning experience is best,” Trina says. “I felt that it was necessary to get actively involved in communicating with people in the community about health and wellness.” Navigating through health care reform and policy changes can be confusing. Knowing what kind of plan is right for you, if you qualify for a subsidy or Medicaid, knowing where and when to sign up are all questions so many people need answered. But Trina thinks having an expert there in person makes all the difference. Even congregation members who were insured would stop to ask questions about health coverage or about others they knew who were under or uninsured. “Ultimately, I wanted to make a difference in the health of my community by helping friends and neighbors become aware of the access they have to health care,” Trina explains. “Being that this was a faith-based health promotion, I think the entire congregation was helped by the partnership.” Volunteering at New St. Paul Tabernacle Church was just one way BCBSM employees help their communities. If you’re interested in learning more about other volunteer programs, click here. Open enrollment assistance at New St. Paul Tabernacle Church will continue until February 15. Remember, if you or someone you know still have questions on health care coverage, there are some great resources through the Health Insurance 101 blog series or bcbsm.com/101. You can also follow the hashtag #Covered101 on our social channels.
