Blue Cross Honored for Commitment to the Oklahoma Caring Van Program

The AHIP (America's Health Insurance Plans) Foundation's Community Leadership Award program recently honored Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Oklahoma as a finalist in the large/affiliated category for the company's commitment to the Oklahoma Caring Van Program.

The AHIP Foundation Community Leadership Awards showcase organizations who demonstrate excellence in community outreach. Excellence is exhibited by a health insurance plan’s innovation identifying a specific problem in the community, establishing creative paths to address the problem and successfully leading community partnerships toward collaborative solutions.

The Oklahoma Caring Van Program is a mobile immunization initiative that delivers vaccines at no cost to children at child care centers, schools and community locations that are convenient for low-income families. The program is specifically designed to reach beyond the membership base of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Oklahoma and serve those who do not routinely access traditional health care systems. The Oklahoma Caring Van Program’s goal is to eliminate barriers that prevent children from receiving needed immunizations at the proper times.

Since the program’s inception in 1999, more than 45,000 children have received over 104,000 vaccines aboard the four Oklahoma Caring Vans. The Caring Van Program is available statewide to children from birth through 18. All vaccines are provided at no charge to families or host facilities.

The Caring Van Program’s strength lies in partnerships with public and private organizations, including the public health community. The program works directly with public school systems and child care centers as well as nonprofit agencies that serve minorities and impoverished populations.

Unique factors about the Oklahoma Caring Van Program are its delivery of vaccines directly to children at the locations where they spend most of their days and the fact that parents are permitted to provide advance consent for vaccines. Parents who provide advance consent are not required to be present when immunizations are administered, which allows working parents to obtain the vaccines their children need without taking time away from their jobs.

AHIP created a poster recognizing Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Oklahoma and the Oklahoma Caring Van Program. The poster will be placed in a featured location with the two category winners and other finalists during the 2008 AHIP Institute.