Northwest Health | FALL 2009

A MESSAGE FROM CEO SCOTT ARMSTRONG

As a Nonprofit, We Give Back in Every Way We Can

It's a given that Group Health is there for you when you're sick. But we also make it our job to keep you and your family from getting sick in the first place. And we even reach beyond that. Some of our work benefits whole communities in our service areas, as well as people throughout the United States and beyond.

BACK TO: Northwest Health index

Take the H1N1 flu vaccine as an example. The Group Health Research Institute is one of eight sites in the United States that is helping to test the H1N1 flu vaccine. Research findingswill help national public health officials develop immunization sched-ules and vaccine dosage recommendations in preparation for a possible H1N1 flu outbreak.

Childhood immunizations are another example. In 2007, Washington state ranked 46th out of 50 states in immunization rates for children aged 19 to 35 months. In response, the Group Health Foundation, with support from its donors, committed to raising $1 million for childhood immunization access and education initiatives over a 3-year period. On Oct. 10, our Gift of Health Gala, the Foundation's primary fundraising event each year, will raise money to support the Foundation's Childhood Immunization Initiative.

We're involved, both regionally and nationally, in helping to shape what the health care system will look like in the future — and it's gratifying to see that we're being noticed and heard. As The New York Times said recently, "There is much about the Group Health system that Congress and the White House would like to replicate."

With reform in the air and the need to rein in costs paramount, it's a stressful time to work in health care. But my colleagues and I choose to work here because we know we're creating better health for more people every year, and that makes the hard work worthwhile.