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Hispanic Health Council Receives $20,000 Grant From Cigna in Honor of Maria Borrero

Maria Borrero and other energetic health activists partnered with medical anthropologists Stephen and Jean Schensul and formed the Puerto Rican Health Committee to address the cultural and linguistic barriers between the community and the health care system. In 1978, the Puerto Rican Health Committee became the Hispanic Health Council led by its first executive director, Maria Borrero.

HHC addresses health disparities through engaging communities that experience health disparities in identifying disparity related problems and solutions, developing and evaluating services designed to achieve those solutions, policy advocacy to address disparities at the systems level, and cross cultural training of service providers to address health care disparities.

The Hispanic Health Council’s scope of work is increasingly statewide, and its efforts and achievements are increasingly recognized at the national level. HHC’s Breastfeeding: Peer Counseling Program was highlighted in the Institute of Medicine’s (2012) report “Accelerating the Progress of Obesity Prevention – Solving the Weight of the Nation” and three of its programs were featured in its video “Puppets & Peers On the Move – To Prevent Childhood Obesity”, which won an honorable mention in the First Lady’s “Let’s Move” Communities on the Move Faith and Community-Based Video Challenge.

“Cigna’s contribution to the Hispanic Health Council provides vital support to the agency’s critically important programs and services,” said Jose Ortiz, current President and CEO.

The Hispanic Health Council congratulates Maria Borrero on her GO YOU Award nomination and appreciates CIGNA’s generous support of our work to continue addressing health disparities through our programs and services.