Blue Cross Teams Up with Tulsa Drillers to Pitch Wellness Program for Kids

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Oklahoma (BCBSOK) has teamed up with Tulsa Drillers to create a Blue Kids’ Club wellness program for children ages 3 to 12. Registration will be available at 6 p.m. at the Tulsa Drillers Stadium, located at 15th and S. Yale Avenue, beginning with the July 21 game.

“This program was created to teach kids the simple basics – eat healthy and stay active,” said Jeffrey Tikkanen, vice president of marketing, BCBSOK. “We want to promote overall wellness to children while they are still at an age of impact.”

In addition to promoting exercise and healthy diets, Blue Kids’ Club discourages the use of harmful substances like tobacco and alcohol. Each year 5,300 Oklahomans under the age of 18 become daily smokers, according to data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Through the Blue Kids’ Club, children will receive fun health and wellness packets with their free registration and will have the opportunity to meet the Club’s mascots. Blaze, a 7-foot tall blue dragon, is BCBSOK’s mascot and teaches kids the dangers of smoking. The Tulsa Drillers bull mascot, Hornsby, also is blue and supports the healthy lifestyle that athletics offers children. Together, Blaze and Hornsby promote health and wellness to Tulsa youth through their Blue Kids’ Club.

With their registration, the first 750 children will receive an activity book, crayons, a subscription to the Blue Kids’ Club newsletter, annual birthday cards and more.

Throughout its 69-year history, BCBSOK has been committed to meeting the health care needs of Oklahomans. As the state’s oldest and largest private health insurer, BCBSOK provides health care benefit plans for more than 600,000 Oklahomans. BCBSOK is a division of Health Care Service Corporation, which also operates Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans in Illinois, New Mexico and Texas. Health Care Service Corporation is a mutual legal reserve company and an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.

The Tulsa Drillers professional baseball club is the oldest professional sports franchise in the city of Tulsa. In 2005, the Drillers celebrated the 100-year anniversary of pro baseball in Tulsa. The Drillers are annually one of the highest-drawing seasonal entertainment options in Tulsa.