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CareFirst Awards $1 million Grant for MVP Program
In a grassroots effort to reduce racial disparities in health care, the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy and CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield (CareFirst) are partnering to educate and empower African-American men in the greater Baltimore metropolitan area to improve their cardiovascular wellness. The Maryland cardio-Vascular men’s health Promotion, or MVP program, for short, has been made possible by a $1 million grant by CareFirst.
MVP will begin by enrolling 40 African-American men with risk factors of cardiovascular disease from University of Maryland emergency room sites and family practice centers, local churches and through community outreach. In completing the six-month program, participants will have their vital signs assessed, learn how to maintain healthy lifestyles and work towards their health goals. The men will also recruit two future participants each and serve as an MVP mentor. The initial three year pilot is designed to help 600 African-American men in Baltimore live longer, healthier lives with increased access to quality, affordable health care. During the program, MVP men will be helped in finding doctors and pharmacists and encouraged to lead healthy lifestyles.
"The team element and focus to reduce racial disparities in health care makes the MVP program a unique endeavor and one CareFirst is proud to support," said Jon Shematek, M.D., CareFirst’s Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer. "There is no greater need than to combat cardiovascular disease, the single greatest killer of all Americans and which is most prevalent among African-American men."