Blue Cross interns are giving back to our community
Daniel J. Loepp
| 2 min read
Daniel J. Loepp is President and Chief Executive Off...
Throughout my professional life, I’ve been fortunate to have mentors who have guided and supported me on my career journey. That’s one of the reasons why I’ve invested in a robust internship program at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan that provides mentorship and helps young professionals build a foundation for a successful professional journey. Our intern program is also tied to our mission of giving back to our community, helping to support a strong regional economy and providing participants with a greater understanding of healthcare. This year alone, we welcomed 183 interns, hailing from 35 different universities across the nation. They had an amazing opportunity to dig into complex projects and find solutions that make a difference for our members and customers, working across our company in areas like Health Care Value, Information Technology and Service Operations. But our BCBSM internship program offers so much more experience, including professional development through the After 5 Detroit program and our Young Professionals Network (YPN). YPN offers a mentorship program, networking and workshops about resume-writing, interview preparation and how to build your LinkedIn profile. I’m especially proud of our community-based intern projects program, where our interns volunteer on projects to assist nonprofits by tackling operational, systemic and programmatic needs identified by the participating organizations. For one project with the Michigan Parkinson Foundation, which centered on health policy and population health, interns researched issues in caring for Parkinson’s patients in long-term care facilities. Their work included developing a survey on the current state of care in long-term care facilities in Michigan and creating a mailing list of all the sites statewide, which resulted in a database of more than 900 providers. To generate a more robust outcome, they also established an incentive program that encouraged facilities to complete the survey. Interns also worked with the Gleaners Food Bank of SE Michigan, Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and Special Olympics of Michigan on additional meaningful projects to support their needs. I’m thankful for our partners for providing these extraordinary opportunities and allowing our interns to make a difference, as well as our executive team sponsors, program coordinators and advisors, who make this program possible and offer their mentorship and guidance. And thank you to our interns for volunteering your time to support our communities. We hope we’ve ignited a passion to give back that endures a lifetime.
