The Rhode to Health: A Podcast from Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island

Last month on the Rhode to Health, we started our look back at twenty years of BlueAngel Community Health Grants (BACHG). Today, we hear from the first of our 2023 BACHG Grantees, Jonnycake Center for Hope. Join us to hear from Executive Director Kate Brewster about the ambitious new project Jonnycake has embarked on to address housing access in southern Rhode Island. 

Jonnycake has spent nearly 50 years serving Rhode Islanders. The Center has made a big step into housing and has begun to renovate three of the 15 to 19 units of service-enriched housing it plans to offer to local, low-income families experiencing unstable and/or unaffordable housing. 

Two BACHG grantees, including Jonnycake, were recently featured in the North Kingston Standard Times- you can read more about this work here. 

Learn more about Jonnycake Center for Hope and ways you can support their work here. 

To learn more about the BlueAngel Community Health grant go to https://www.bcbsri.com/about/blueangel.

Join us for more episodes in this series as we look back and forward on the impact of the BlueAngel Community health grant during a yearlong celebration.

It's Black history month and we're exploring issues important to Rhode Island's African American community. We join a lively discussion with Blue Cross's Black Council @ Blue, as they discuss the state of health and wellness in their community. We hear from Kaitlyn Rabb of Rhode Island Kids Count as she talks about a Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Rhode Island funded brief entitled Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Maternal, Infant, and Young Children's Health in Rhode Island. And we’re joined by Ray Rickman, who heads an organization dedicated to protecting black history and healthy futures. 

Read the Rhode Island Kids Count brief, funded by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Rhode Island: Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Maternal, Infant, and Young Children's Health in Rhode Island.

Learn more about Stages of Freedom

Pawtucket-based recording artist The Alona Decade provided our closing credit song, Keep on. Their music can be found on Apple Music and Spotify.

Be Healthy. Be Well. And keep your eyes on the Rhode.

In this month’s BACKRHODES episode,  Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island Care Manager Anna-Marie Folan details her journey of starting a family through fertility treatment with her wife. Delving further, she touches upon the barriers the couple faced throughout the process and how, despite these challenges, her desire to become a mother never wavered.

Anna-Marie Folan shared her thoughts for members seeking to coordinate care, be it for fertility needs or any time care coordination is a challenge.

"In care management we use an integrated health approach to provide members with a personal experience while empowering them to achieve their health goals. We offer comprehensive support to our members with complex medical and behavioral health issues by directing them to resources, education and tools. Our care managers work collaboratively with the member’s current healthcare team to help set and achieve personal health goals. The care management team includes experts such as registered nurses, dietitians, social workers, medical directors and health advocates, who work together to provide the member with assistance managing their health. This assistance can include navigating the healthcare system, collaborating with providers and helping members to access the care they need at the right time. Care management supports the mission of improving member health, the quality of healthcare services they receive and their overall satisfaction. You can reach a care manager by calling 401-459-2273 (CARE) or emailing [email protected]."

It’s February, Valentine’s Day is right around the corner, and as kids are cutting out paper hearts in classrooms we’re going to talk about cutting out heart disease. We’re here promoting two amazing events, both associated with saving hearts and by extension saving lives. I’m speaking of course of the GoRed for Women luncheon on February 10 and the American Heart Association Heart walk on June 10, which you can sign up for now. My guests are two women well known in this fight. Martha Wofford is President and CEO of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Rhode Island (she’s also the Heart Walk Chair). Melissa Cummings has a long history with GoRed for Women and currently chairs the board of the Southern New England chapter of the American Heart Association. 

Learn more about the GoRed for Women Luncheon here.

Sign up for the American Heart Association Heart Walk here.

You can learn more about protecting your families' heart health here.

Be healthy. Be well. And keep your eyes on the Rhode.  

We’re having a birthday party as the BlueAngel Community Health Grant program turns 20 years old.

Even if you’ve never heard of The BlueAngel Community Health Grant program, chances are someone you know has been touched by its funding – we’re talking about an annual, competitive grant program focused on addressing critical health issues in Rhode Island. The program achieves this by partnering with community–based agencies trying to improve the health of Rhode Islanders. This funding program is the cornerstone of Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island’s community investment activities at BCBSRI, and they’re proud of the organizations they’ve worked with and the results achieved since it began 20 years ago. 

We’re joined by special guests Linda Newton and Carolyn Belisle. Linda is the former VP, Community Relations, Corporate Social Responsibility & Diversity, at Blue Cross and when she while she was in that role she both founded the program and hired our second special guest Carolyn Belisle. Carolyn is Managing Director of Corporate Social Responsibility at Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode island.  The two worked together for many years before Linda's retirement.

To learn more about the BlueAngel Community Health grant go to https://www.bcbsri.com/about/blueangel.

Join us for more episodes in this series as we look back and forward on the impact of the BlueAngel Community health grant during a year long celebration.

The start of a new year ushers in feelings of hope and motivates us all to become better versions of ourselves. In this episode of the Rhode to Health, our host, Mark Sheldon, and our guests discuss how to strengthen the resolve to build a better you physically, emotionally, and even as part of your community.

For tips on how to improve our physical well-being, we were joined by Laura Beltz, a registered dietician who helps Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island (BCBSRI) members make healthy food choices at Your Blue Store. You’ll also hear from Robin Lussier – a Your Blue Store fitness coach and instructor who helps to keep our members moving all year long.

Looking to improve your emotional well-being this year? In this episode, you’ll hear from John Davia, BCBSRI manager of well-being solutions, and Sarah Fleury, BCBSRI director of behavioral healthcare. John and Sarah gave us some self-care tips to incorporate into a daily routine.

If you’ve resolved to get more involved in your community this year, listen to hear Jessica Barry, United Way of Rhode Island’s director of corporate relations, and Jennifer Remmes, director of resource operations, spotlight ways you can help your fellow Rhode Islanders. Learn more at unitedwayri.org.

Interested in visiting a Your Blue Store near you? Click here to find our four locations across the state and click here to register for a fitness class or educational workshop.

Our closing credits music is “For a Sunny Day” by John Davia and Bad Larry.

Be healthy. Be well. And keep your eyes on the Rhode.  

In this look back, we're joined by wellness expert Nicole Grace who will teach us to put words to our thankful thoughts in a gratitude journal.

More information about Nicole Grace and Cultivate Wellness can be found at cultivatewellnessri.com.

The 4th annual RI Life Index launched on November 14. A presentation of the findings was followed by a conversation with RI Life Index Coalition members and other community leaders facilitated by Lifespan’s Vice President of Community, Health and Equity, Carrie Bridges Feliz. This episode features an excerpt from that conversation.

In this episode, we gather to count all our blessings as we pause to think about what it means to give thanks. We're joined by wellness expert Nicole Grace who will teach us to put words to our thankful thoughts in a gratitude journal. We'll visit the Rhode Island Community Food Bank and talk to Lisa Roth Blackman, the Food Bank's chief philanthropy officer, about gratitude in the form of altruism. And we'll speak to Melissa Cummings, Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island executive vice president and chief customer officer, about a wellness program that incorporates gratitude as one of its pillars of health.

Donations to the Rhode Island Community Food Bank can be made at rifoodbank.org.

Information about Take 5 for You can be found on rhodeahead.com.

More information about Nicole Grace and Cultivate Wellness can be found at cultivatewellnessri.com.

Information about Granite Theatre's A Christmas Carol can be found at granitetheatre.org.

Be healthy. Be well. And keep your eyes on the Rhode.