CareCredit's Caring Communities Program makes positive impact

For more than 25 years, CareCredit, a leading healthcare credit card, has been committed to helping people access needed care. This commitment extends to providing volunteer and financial support to charitable organizations within the professions they serve.

As CareCredit’s philanthropic efforts have expanded over time, the company created its Caring Communities Program to formalize and focus financial support and employee volunteer activities. “CareCredit’s position as a healthcare credit card has always been to give our providers a way to help more patients access the care they want and need,” explained Cindy Hearn, senior vice president of branding and communications. “CareCredit’s Caring Communities Program is another way we’re supporting charities through financial and volunteer contributions, so these organizations can continue the important work they are doing and help more people, including children, access care in the communities they serve.”

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In 2013 alone, the Caring Communities Program has provided more than $200,000 in grants to organizations in five healthcare professions to help low-to-moderate income households in the U.S. obtain necessary care that might not otherwise be received:

• Dentistry - CareCredit continues its six-year commitment to Give Kids A Smile, helping fund dental education, screening and treatment events across the country for school-aged children.
• Optometry - the company supports the American Optometric Association Foundation’s InfantSEE Program to provide vision assessment for infants and children up to age four.
• Hearing Health - CareCredit’s grant to The Miracle Ear Children’s Foundation was used to provide hearing aids and hearing support services for 20 children.
• Veterinary Medicine - CareCredit supports Canine Companions for Independence, enabling more children, and their families, to attend training courses with their assistance dogs.
• Reconstructive Surgery - two organizations within cosmetic medicine were funded: The FACE TO FACE Fund, which helps victims of domestic violence receive facial reconstructive surgery; and the Plastic Surgery Foundation Breast Reconstruction Awareness (BRA) Fund that enables reconstructive surgery for uninsured or underinsured women as a treatment for breast cancer.

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In addition to financial support, CareCredit’s Caring Communities Program organizes employee volunteers. The company’s employees continue to donate time to the Special Olympics and Junior Achievement, as well as a variety of other events. A team of 32 employee volunteers and their family and friends recently walked to raise $7,415 in donations during the Orange County AIDS Walk at Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif. “It feels good to do good,” added Hearn. “We have a giving team who work at CareCredit — people who believe it is important to help others. As a company, we want to support our employee efforts and make it easy for them to reach out into the community and volunteer.”

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For more information on CareCredit’s Caring Communities Program visit www.carecredit.com and click on the Community tab.

For more information about CareCredit, visit www.carecredit.com.