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Friday, Mar 29, 2024

Blue Shield Grant Benefits Uninsured Residents at Clinic

This is a regular feature on philanthropic activities by Valley-area businesspeople and companies. Blue Shield of Californi Foundation donates to local medical centers Blue Shield of California Foundation donated $50,000 to the Samuel Dixon Family Health Centers, Inc. (SDFHC). The grant was aimed at providing health care to uninsured residents in the area. SDFHC operates three medical centers in the Santa Clarita Valley as well as two outreach sites that offer health care services to uninsured and underinsured residents. Patients pay for the services based on their income. Cheryl Laymon, executive director of SDFHC, said many of the patients work but simply cannot afford enough health care for their needs. “We could not be more thankful for this generous grant,” she said. “This will go a long way toward providing patient care for those who truly need it.” Peter Long, president and CEO of Blue Shield of California Foundation said the SDFHC is a “vital part of California’s safety net.” “The struggling economy and cuts to key public services have made community clinics more important than ever,” Long said. Santa Clarita collects 2,500 pounds of food during annual food drive Last month the City of Santa Clarita collected more than 2,500 pounds of food for Food Pantry’s Summer Food Drive. The Food Pantry has served the Santa Clarita Valley since 1986 and relies on donations from the community. The annual event helps meet the needs of low-income families in the area and keeps the Food Pantry’s shelves stocked for the back-to-school season. Mayor Marsha McLean said the event provided around 2,115 meals to Santa Clarita families. “The City of Santa Clarita is proud to host an annual food drive every summer to ensure that residents enjoy a high quality of life regardless of their financial situation,” McLean said. Los Angeles Sparks visit local high school WNBA team, Los Angeles Sparks, held traveling practice at John H. Francis Polytechnic Senior High School in Sun Valley on Sep 7. The event was in support of the Project TRUST and “I’M IN” campaigns. The two programs collaborated on the event in an effort to encourage students to lead a healthy and tobacco free lifestyle. The event allowed students to spend the afternoon interacting with Sparks team members including Lisa Leslie, DeLisha Milton-Jones and Ebony Hoffman. Project TRUST, created by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health’s Tobacco Prevention and Control Program, reaches out to communities across the country with high smoking rates. Los Angeles Unified School District’s “I’M IN” campaign is designed to raise awareness about the District’s healthy meals to help fight childhood obesity, as well as to encourage student attendance and dropout prevention. CSUN receives multimillion dollar grant from National Institutes of Health California State University, Northridge has received a grant for nearly $3.75 million dollars from the National Institutes of Health. The grant is to help fund a program that pairs campus researchers with students from underrepresented communities who want to become research scientists. Over the next five years, the money will be distributed to 20 undergraduate students and six graduate students as they are mentored by and conduct research in CSUN’s Colleges of Science and Mathematics, Health and Human Development, and Social and Behavioral Sciences. Biology professor Maria Elena Zavala said the program is a wonderful opportunity for the school to help students prepare for careers as basic biomedical researchers. “We are very serious about giving the students the skills they will need to succeed as scientists,” Zavala said. “We want to see our students go on to Ph.D. programs and become scientists themselves.” Compiled by Angela Melero

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