CVS Caremark Partners With Hispanic Heritage Foundation to Identify and Inspire Future Latino Health Care Leaders

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• Latin America - español

WOONSOCKET, R.I. and WASHINGTON, Oct. 13, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- CVS Caremark (NYSE: CVS) and the Hispanic Heritage Foundation (HHF) today announced a new partnership to identify, inspire and prepare young Latinos to join health care fields, through a new Health Care category of the prestigious HHF Youth Awards program. This fall and winter, CVS Caremark and HHF will recognize more than 30 outstanding high school seniors of Latino descent for their academic performance, community service and interest in pursuing a career in health care. The recipients, three from each of 10 regions across the country, will receive educational grants from CVS Caremark as well as exposure to experts in health care fields, and mentoring, training and internship opportunities as they head off to college.

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"CVS Caremark is committed to providing opportunities for career development and growth, and we believe that increasing the number of young Latinos pursuing traditional and non-traditional health care careers is an important part of fulfilling that commitment," said David Casey, Vice President, Workforce Strategies and Chief Diversity Officer at CVS Caremark. "We are honored to be partnering with the Hispanic Heritage Foundation, a nationally respected leader, to develop and support long-term strategies to improve opportunities for the Latino community."

"Although Latinos represent nearly 17 percent of the overall population, the US Census Bureau reports Hispanics are glaringly underrepresented in American health care fields making up only 3 percent of nurses, just over 3 percent of pharmacists and 3.8 percent of physicians," said Jose Antonio Tijerino, President and CEO of HHF. "We are thrilled to join CVS Caremark in honoring talented aspiring health care leaders, and preparing them for the workforce – to make an impact not only on the Latino community but on America."

The Youth Awardees are selected from more than 10,000 applicants. In addition to the Health Care category, Youth Awardees are honored in Business, Math & Engineering, Education, and Community Service. The 13th Annual Hispanic Heritage Youth Awards Regional Ceremonies kicked off today in Houston, and through the rest of the year will also take place in New York City; Chicago; Washington, D.C.; Miami; Denver; Phoenix; Los Angeles, Palo Alto, Calif., and Dallas.  One recipient will be selected in each of the categories from the pool of regional recipients and flown to Washington, D.C., for the National Youth Awards Ceremony featuring celebrities and Members of Congress.

After receiving the awards, students are also funneled into HHF's leadership cycle which includes the Latinos On Fast Track (LOFT), providing leadership training and workforce development in various fields including health care. The students are also featured in public awareness campaigns to provide inspiration to other youth and shatter negative stereotypes about Latinos. For a brief video, please visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1UUfAjgbmw

About CVS Caremark

CVS Caremark is the largest pharmacy health care provider in the United States with integrated offerings across the entire spectrum of pharmacy care. We are uniquely positioned to engage plan members in behaviors that improve their health and to lower overall health care costs for health plans, plan sponsors and their members. CVS Caremark is a market leader in mail order pharmacy, retail pharmacy, specialty pharmacy, and retail clinics, and is a leading provider of Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Plans. As one of the country's largest pharmacy benefits managers (PBMs), we provide access to a network of approximately 65,000 pharmacies, including more than 7,200 CVS/pharmacy® stores that provide unparalleled service and capabilities. Our clinical offerings include our signature Pharmacy Advisor™ program as well as innovative generic step therapy and genetic benefit management programs that promote more cost effective and healthier behaviors and improve health care outcomes. General information about CVS Caremark is available through the Company's website at http://info.cvscaremark.com/.

About the Hispanic Heritage Foundation

The Hispanic Heritage Foundation is a national nonprofit organization which inspires, identifies, prepares and positions Latino leaders for classroom, community and workforce.  For more information, please visit www.HispanicHeritage.org.

SOURCE CVS Caremark