Arizona

These are just a few of the many ways that Aetna, the Aetna Foundation and its employees are making a difference:

• Gave more than $200,000 in grants, sponsorships and matching grants in Arizona in 2010
• Nearly 11,000 volunteer hours logged by Aetna employees in Arizona in 2010
  

Healthy bodies, healthy minds, healthy girls
 
A 2010 study published in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine showed that Arizona had the greatest increase of all 50 states in childhood obesity rates between 2003 and 2007.  Even more alarming is a near doubling of the rate of obesity in Arizona’s girls.

A $100,000 Aetna Foundation award to the Tucson Medical Center is helping to address this issue by funding Girls on the Run -- a national prevention program that encourages preteen girls to develop self-respect and healthful lifestyles through running.  The program combines training for a 3.1 mile run with a curriculum that helps girls learn to make good choices and avoid risky adolescent behaviors.  By giving young girls the tools to build healthy, strong minds and bodies, and teaching them early on how to have a healthy relationship with food and exercise, the program seeks to reduce obesity and create more positive perspectives on physical activity from the preteen years through adulthood.

In Phoenix, a $20,000 grant from the Aetna Foundation to Accept the Challenge is supporting the introduction of a school-based nutrition and fitness program to 1200 students in grades three through six from low-income Hispanic families.  The program, Operation Tone-Up® is an evidence-based program for preventing childhood obesity that has been endorsed by U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan because of its effectiveness in helping students become healthier and more focused in school. The program features daily structured exercise and classroom lessons on nutrition and healthy living that are linked to academic curriculum standards. 

Aetna volunteers in action! 

In Phoenix, Aetna employees raised $10,000 through bake sales, auctions and other fund-raising events to support the 100 Club of Arizona.  The funds aid the organization’s efforts to provide financial assistance to families of public safety officers and firefighters who have been seriously injured or killed in the line of duty.