General Electric Co.’s charitable arm is awarding $1.25 million in grants to five Fairfield County nonprofit health agencies to widen access to care for the growing ranks of the needy and underinsured in one of the nation’s wealthiest counties that GE calls home.
The GE Foundation and the GE Corporate Diversity Council says the awards to agencies in Bridgeport, Danbury, Norwalk and Stamford are part of their three-year, $50 million commitment of money and GE employee volunteers to selected healthcare centers across the United States.
GE, headquartered in the city of Fairfield, calls its initiative GE Developing Health.
“Increasing access to primary care is vital to our community and Developing Health will help do this right here in our back yard,” said GE marketing chief Beth Comstock. “There’s a perception that Fairfield County doesn’t have as many underinsured or uninsured residents — and that’s simply not the case.”
GE Foundation Chairman and President Bob Corcoran cited data he says shows the number of uninsured Connecticut residents rose at a rate of twice the national average from 2008 to 2009.
That increase ranks Fairfield County equal to Hartford and Litchfield counties, with 10.8 percent of residents living without insurance, Corcoran said.
“Our partnership with these Fairfield health centers,” he said, “is a great example of the positive impact that can be made by combining funding with GE’s volunteer support.”
The five Fairfield County health centers to receive $250,000 each over the next two years are:
- Community Health Center Inc. — Norwalk
- Community Health Center Inc. — Danbury
- Optimus Health Care Inc. — Bridgeport
- Optimus Health Care Inc. — Stamford
- Southwest Community Health Center Inc. — Bridgeport
