Making Healthcare Better for All

Too often, we forget that large corporations are comprised of individuals who work day in and day out to serve their customers and their community. That's how it is with Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina and people like Cheryl Parquet. Cheryl, who hails from and still lives in Mebane, is the company's associate vice president for community engagement. She graduated from UNC Chapel Hill and holds a Certified Diversity and Inclusion Professional Credential from Cornell University. She has over 16 years of experience in community relations, marketing activation, and diversity engagement in the health insurance industry, and was named one of the top 50 women leaders in North Carolina. Cheryl was a recent guest on my Triad Today television show, and what I learned is that she is truly committed to making healthcare better for all. What follows are highlights from our conversation.

Jim: Blue Cross provides healthcare for nearly 4 million North Carolina residents, so what's your approach to addressing local health challenges?

Cheryl: About two years ago, we took our executives out to visit all 100 counties. We met with community partners, leaders, legislators, and our members, and we had conversations about the challenges that people in our state are facing. And through those conversations, we've taken an intentional approach to how we're changing our products and services, and how we meet the most challenging needs in our community, such as focusing on youth mental health, improving access to healthcare, and promoting health through food.

Jim: Tell me about the Blue Cross mission here in North Carolina.

Cheryl: Our mission is to improve the health and well-being of our customers and communities. It's a part of our DNA. Our customers are our neighbors. We live, work, and play with them, so we show up each and every day for them.

Jim: Who or what led you to a career in healthcare?

Cheryl: It was because of my personal experience growing up. I understand about nonprofits because they were there to support me and my family when we needed it. I have an understanding of what the food bank means to so many families. I understand what it means to go to a free clinic and receive services there and how important these safety net organizations are for our community.

Jim: So, what's most gratifying to you about the work you do for Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina through community engagement?

Cheryl: What's gratifying to me is to be able to meet with so many different people across our state, to understand their needs, and then to be able to go back and have conversations with our community partners and say, "How can we support you to do the work?" At the end of the day, our investments of time and money are there to support our customers and also our community partners, who are the ones on the ground doing the work each and every day.

For more information, visit www.bluecrossnc.com.