A health equity award from Univera Healthcare will support the ECMC Foundation’s Remote Patient Monitoring Program to improve blood pressure screening among the primary care patient population. High blood pressure, also known as hypertension, increases the risk for heart disease and stroke, two leading causes of death for Americans. Hypertension usually has no symptoms, so the only way to know if you have it is to get screened.
“Many people don’t realize they have high blood pressure,” said Dr. Samuel D. Cloud, Chief Medical Officer, ECMC. “With this funding from Univera Healthcare, we hope to identify people with this condition and start them on a care plan to get it under control.”
The risk of high blood pressure increases with age and is higher in people who have a family history of the condition. Non-Hispanic blacks and women older than age 65 are prone to high blood pressure. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) nearly half of adults in the United States have hypertension, but only about 1 in 4 adults with hypertension have it controlled.
“This health equity grant will help ECMC get more people screened, especially our area’s most vulnerable populations,” says Univera Healthcare President Art Wingerter. Our 500 employees and leadership team live here in Western New York, so supporting programs like this, in the place we call home, is important to us.”
Univera Healthcare invited nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organizations serving Western New York to apply for Health Equity Awards to help fund health and wellness programs that address racial and ethnic health disparities. Health Equity categories included but were not limited to: Reducing health disparities in racial, ethnic, LGBTQ communities, people with disabilities, people living in rural or urban communities, or other groups that may be at higher health risk for medical issues and conditions (chronic or acute), behavioral health or mental health conditions, and negative outcomes from the above, including death or suicide.
ECMC Foundation is a not-for-profit corporation that enhances what ECMC offers to its patients and the community. Learn more at www.ecmc.edu/the-ecmc-foundation/.
Univera Healthcare is a nonprofit health plan that serves members across the eight counties of Western New York. Learn more at www.univerahealthcare.com.
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