2023 Community Accountability report highlights

A legacy of building trust

Since the day we opened our doors, we’ve made it our mandate to support the health and wellbeing of Albertans. We can’t do this alone, so we work hand in hand with dozens of organizations across the province to share resources, research and support. That’s 75 years of building trust with each other and the people we care about most—Albertans trying to live well.

We build trust by creating community

Throughout 2023, we worked with our partners to help create healthy, vibrant communities and community spaces where people can come together. One of our main undertakings each year is the Healthy Communities Symposium, led by our partners at Communities ChooseWell and the Communities Symposium. Over 2 days, 125 wellness leaders from across the province came together to build upon their current community resources and promote wellness in their communities.

We build trust by breaking barriers

We stand as a champion for diversity, equity and inclusion. As an ally of the 2SLGBTQ+ community, we supported both the Edmonton Pride Festival and Calgary Pride Festival in 2023. We also celebrated Pride Month with our own team members in June, which included an all-employee panel sharing personal stories of navigating the world as 2SLGBTQ+ people. We continued to champion women’s health and wellness in 2023 by supporting the United Way’s Period Promise campaign and the Lois Hole Women’s Hospital Society’s series of Between Us talks, which focus on providing a safe and inclusive environment to share knowledge, listen to experts and discuss important women's health topics.

We build trust by feeding families

Access to nutritious food is critically important to both physical and mental health. Throughout 2023, we maintained our partnership with Fresh Routes, a not-for-profit organization in Calgary that delivers discounted healthy food directly to low socio-economic status communities. We also make sure kids can access the food they need to get through their days. We achieve this through our work as a snack sponsor for Free Play for Kids, an after-school multi-sports program for 8- to 12-year-olds, and as a partner of Apple Schools, an organization that provides wellness programming to schools across Alberta.

We build trust by uplifting youth

We want children to grow up strong, healthy and empowered. That’s why we partner with organizations across the province who give kids and teens the tools they need to succeed. We also promote wellness in Alberta schools through initiatives that impact thousands of students in hundreds of schools. Some examples of the work we did in 2023 include sponsorsing the Alberta Medical Association Youth Run Club, providing free snacks to kids through Free Play for Kids and sponsoring the Lung Association’s Breathe Smart program to educate children on the risks of vapaing and smoking.

We build trust by empowering older adults

As part of our support for Alberta’s aging-in-place strategy, we partner with several programs and organizations that promote the wellbeing of older adults. In 2023, we sponsored the Alberta 55 plus games in Brooks, the Top 7 Over 70 awards in Calgary and the first Alberta Healthy Aging Summit that saw more than 300 seniors’ health champions come together towards a united purpose of making Alberta one of the best places to grow older through the coordination and integration of community-based services. Due to high demand, we also partnered again this year with the Alberta Injury Prevention Centre to print, promote and distribute the Keeping Well booklets across the province.

We build trust by promoting physical wellbeing

We believe in prevention before treatment wherever possible. That’s why we partner with organizations who believe the path to health and wellness is through educating our communities and removing systemic barriers. In 2023, we continued our sponsorship of the Prescription to Get Active program, which works to break down roadblocks that keep people from physical activity. We also sponsored The Prostate Cancer Centre’s Man Van, the first mobile men’s health clinic in Canada, and the Parkinson’s Association of Alberta Hope Conference in November 2023. Finally, we continued our 20 years’ partnership with STARS by sponsoring 3 Fund-A-Flight missions for northern, central and southern Alberta.

We build trust by supporting mental health

Mental health remains a top priority for Alberta Blue Cross^®, and we’re committed to ongoing efforts to raise awareness around its importance. We continued our support of National Depression Screening Day (NDSD) by sponsoring the 2023 initiative through the Calgary Counselling Centre. From October 2 to 8, we encouraged Albertans to check in with their mental health and take small, manageable steps to feel better. We also partnered with YWCA Edmonton to help provide mental health counselling services. In total, we helped 340 clients attend 4,422 counselling sessions at YWCA Edmonton in 2023, 99 per cent of which were fully or partially subsidized.

We build trust by standing with Indigenous Peoples

We live and work on Treaty 6, 7 and 8, and we respect the Indigenous Peoples whose land we walk on. Our involvements are guided by our Indigenous Pathway, which is overseen by a steering committee that includes representation from leaders in the Métis and Indigenous communities of Alberta.

In 2023, Edmonton hosted the Alberta Indigenous Games for adults, which was attended by more than 1,000 athletes. We also partnered with the Alberta Recreation and Parks Association to sponsor Grandmothers’ Circles events, which provide Indigenous women Elders from multiple nations the space to come together and share women’s teachings and traditions that have been passed down to them in an oral setting. In 2023, Alberta Blue Cross^® was honoured to be presented with an eagle feather from Indigenous Elder and Knowledge Keeper Treffrey Deerfoot on behalf of the Keep Tobacco Sacred Collaboration. This was in recognition of our commitment to the Keep Tobacco Sacred Collaboration, a community-based initiative that honours tobacco as a sacred plant and a gift given by the Creator to Indigenous Peoples.