Centene Foundation for Quality Healthcare Awards $150,000 to Fund NAMI Homefront Program for Veterans and Military Families

ST. LOUIS, Feb. 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Centene Foundation for Quality Healthcare announced today that it is awarding $150,000 to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). This grant will support expanding the capacity of NAMI Homefront, an adaptation of NAMI's highly successful Family-to-Family program, to specifically serve veteran and active military families. Centene recognizes the unique needs of these families and is grateful to them for their service. Today there are more than 1 million family caregivers who assist a veteran or active military service person who served post 9/11. This grant is aimed at helping these families receive the support they deserve.

"Supporting our veterans, active duty military and the families caring for them is a high priority for us. The Centene Foundation for Quality Healthcare is proud to partner with NAMI in this important initiative," said Kathy Bradley-Wells, President of the Centene Foundation for Quality Healthcare.

Addressing mental health conditions for members of the active military, veterans, and their families is a growing concern. Rand Corporation has released information showing the high prevalence of these conditions as well as the toll on caregivers, many of whom are caring for children as well.  Interventions and support for these caregivers is a growing unmet need. Many post 9/11 family caregivers are younger – 40 percent are between the ages of 18 and 30. They are likely to be caring for someone with a mental health or substance use condition, are employed, may also be a veteran, and often lack an adequate network of support. NAMI Homefront seeks to fill that void by connecting caregivers through education, support and community resources.

"For 28 years, we have proudly served military members, veterans, and their families by providing health care solutions to the Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs," said Billy Maynard, President and CEO of Health Net Federal Services (HNFS). "As an industry leader, HNFS pioneered practices to help keep Service Members and families psychologically ready in the face of multiple deployments, high-risk assignments and now, the transition from battlefield to home.  Since 2004, HFNS has been extremely honored to support the mental health needs of military families through the Military Family Life Counseling program. We believe programs like NAMI Homefront are critical to raise awareness of the issues facing military families, particularly caregivers who are their family's backbone but often face and overcome huge challenges with few resources for support."

The Centene Foundation for Quality Healthcare focuses on improving the quality of healthcare for medically underserved individuals and families and economically distressed areas and supports Centene Corporation's mission of transforming the health of community. In addition to this funding for evidence-based peer support programming for veteran and active military families, the Foundation has funded efforts to address childhood obesity, homelessness, limited mental health care access in rural communities, and poor nutrition for children and families, among others.

"NAMI Homefront was developed to meet the unique needs of military and veteran families," said Mary Giliberti, CEO of NAMI. "We are so thankful to the Centene Foundation for Quality Healthcare for providing support to expand and improve the program to help more families." 

About The Centene Foundation for Quality Healthcare
The Centene Foundation for Quality Healthcare is a non-profit private foundation dedicated to improving the quality of healthcare in the United States. The Foundation serves as a resource to identify and support innovative approaches to improving and increasing the quality of and access to healthcare for low-income individuals and families. This is accomplished through an inspired philanthropic giving plan that seeks to promote efforts and activities that identify and address core causes of unequal access and treatment in healthcare. 

About NAMI
NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, is the nation's largest grassroots mental health organization dedicated to building better lives for the millions of Americans affected by mental illness. www.nami.org | www.facebook.com/nami | http://twitter.com/namicommunicate

About Health Net Federal Services
Health Net Federal Services, a wholly owned subsidiary of Centene Corporation (NYSE: CNC),  has a long history of providing cost-effective, quality managed health care programs for government agencies, including the U.S. Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs (VA). As the managed care support contractor for the TRICARE North Region, Health Net Federal Services provides health care services to approximately 2.8 million uniformed services beneficiaries, active and retired, and their families. Health Net Federal Services provides quality, cost-effective health care solutions for veterans, as well as behavioral health services for active duty service members, veterans and their families. Visit www.hnfs.com for more information.

SOURCE Centene Foundation for Quality Healthcare