CHIP of the Roanoke Valley awarded thousands toward helping families with healthcare

ROANOKE, Va. (WDBJ) - Delta Dental of Virginia Foundation recently awarded an $85,000 grant to Child Health Investment Partnership of the Roanoke Valley.

CHIP of the Roanoke Valley, with its partner New Horizons Healthcare, will use this money to help families that might have a hard time affording healthcare, or have no healthcare benefits at all. Mainly helping to connect families with resources for dental and healthcare operations.

“We’re going to make that introduction and then start to establish the relationship. This is something some of us take for granted and all of us deserve to have right?” said Rachel Hopkins, CEO of CHIP of the Roanoke Valley.

CHIP also is shining a spotlight on households where English might not be their first language. The grant has helped the organization hire a bilingual care coordinator who will help break the language barriers some of those families face.

CHIP serves around 400 families and for more information on the organization, you can find its website here. You can also find the full press release below:

“The Delta Dental of Virginia Foundation and Child Health Investment Partnership (CHIP) of Roanoke Valley are advancing oral health initiatives in the Roanoke Valley with an $85,000 grant to enhance health equity to enrolled CHIP families.

“CHIP of Roanoke Valley is excited to build upon our Innovation Through Integration project through generous support from DDVA Foundation. In 2022, the project will enhance health equity to enrolled CHIP families, particularly bilingual households who will benefit from in-home health education and access to dental and medical appointments with our grant partner New Horizons Healthcare,” said Rachel Hopkins, CEO of CHIP of Roanoke Valley.

In total, Delta Dental of Virginia Foundation awarded eight grants to safety-net organizations throughout the state, supporting initiatives such as the integration and expansion of dental and medical care to low-income and uninsured residents, oral health initiatives serving Spanish-speaking families and the expansion of school-based oral health programs.

“Supporting Virginia’s dental safety net is a critical part of our goal of creating healthy smiles throughout the Commonwealth, and we’re eager to continue assisting CHIP of Roanoke Valley and others like them in their extraordinary efforts to keep our communities healthy,” said Frank Lucia, president and CEO of Delta Dental of Virginia.

“With these grants, our community partners have an opportunity to expand or enhance their most critical services and we look forward to working closely with our safety-net partners throughout the year to help Virginia residents receive the care they need to thrive,” said Polly Raible, executive director of Delta Dental of Virginia Foundation.

This year, the Delta Dental of Virginia Foundation proudly celebrates 10 years of support for Virginia’s safety-net organizations. Since its inception in 2012, the Delta Dental of Virginia Foundation has contributed more than $6 million to our partners and made an additional statewide contribution of more than $4 million to support Virginians impacted by COVID-19. For more information please visit DeltaDentalVA.com/foundation.”

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