Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Dartmouth-Hitchcock, and City Year host 11th annual service day at Cullerot Park in Manchester

(Manchester, NH) June 7, 2019 – More than 100 volunteers from Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Dartmouth-Hitchcock, Benevera Health, Granite Group, Gather, Seacoast Eat Local, Great NH Restaurants, Fisher Cats, and City Year New Hampshire came together today as part of the City’s park revitalization effort to clear trails, build and stain picnic tables and raised garden beds, paint over graffiti, and host healthy eating demonstrations at Cullerot Park in Manchester.

Approximately 120 Northwest Elementary school students joined the volunteers and participated in:

• healthy snack tasting at Seacoast Eat Local Mobile Market
• healthy eating demonstrations by chefs from Great NH Restaurants
• games and exercises with staff from the NH Fisher Cats
• decorating flower pots and planting flowers for seniors

“We are working with the Manchester Parks & Rec and all of the volunteers to help improve Cullerot and Rock Rimmon Parks and create an area where residents can hike and spend time being active outdoors,” said William Brewster, MD, Vice President of New Hampshire Regional Market at Harvard Pilgrim Health Care. “We always enjoy teaming up with our partners at Dartmouth Hitchcock to create a space for the Manchester community to enjoy and this project aligns with Harvard Pilgrim’s mission of building healthy communities.”

Harvard Pilgrim collaborated again this year with Dartmouth-Hitchcock, one of its partners in Elevate Health, a health insurance plan for N.H. residents focused on a team-based approach to quality health care.

“Dartmouth-Hitchcock has a strong and longstanding commitment to Manchester and the communities throughout New Hampshire and Vermont,” said Joanne M. Conroy, CEO and President of Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health. “With Harvard Pilgrim and others, we are focused on what is best for the region and by an unwavering commitment to patients, a profound sense of place and keeping people healthy. Given our deep roots in the city, it’s entirely fitting that we come together with our partners to ensure that these parks continue to flourish for the benefit of all.”

In addition, NH Fisher Cats’ staff hosted a fitness clinic for Northwest Elementary students, and Harvard Pilgrim employees and Great NH Restaurants’ chefs and staff hosted healthy eating workshops for the students.

Volunteers wrapped up the service day with a barbeque lunch provided by Great NH Restaurants. Community Service Days in New Hampshire are part of Harvard Pilgrim’s corporate commitment to the state. In 2018, Harvard Pilgrim’s charitable giving and service in the region totaled nearly $1.25 million and staff volunteered more than 3,820 hours within the local communities in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire.

About The Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation
Created in 1980, The Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation supports Harvard Pilgrim’s mission to improve the quality and value of health care for the people and communities it serves by providing the tools, training and leadership to help build healthy communities throughout Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. Since its inception, the Foundation has distributed more than $150 million in funds and resources. For more information, please visit www.harvardpilgrim.org/foundation.

About City Year:
City Year is an education focused AmeriCorps program that unites young people of all backgrounds for a year of full-time, team based service to keep students in school and on track to graduate successfully. Evidence-based research has determined the early-warning indicators allowing us to identify the students likely to drop out of school. By focusing on students’ ABCs – Attendance, Behavior and Course performance in math and English, City Year corps members (working in partnership with teachers) serve as tutors, mentors and role models who are uniquely able to help students and schools succeed. For more information, please visit www.cityyear.org.

About Dartmouth-Hitchcock:
DARTMOUTH-HITCHCOCK (D-H), New Hampshire’s only academic health system, serves a population of 1.9 million across New England. D-H provides access to more than 1,200 primary care doctors and specialists in almost every area of medicine, delivering care at its flagship hospital, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) in Lebanon, N.H. DHMC was named in 2018 as the #1 hospital in New Hampshire by US News & World Report; nationally ranked in gynecology, and recognized for high performance in 14 clinical specialties. Dartmouth Hitchcock also includes the Norris Cotton Cancer Center, one of only 50 NCIdesignated Comprehensive Cancer Centers in the nation; the Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth-Hitchcock, the state’s only children’s hospital; affiliated member hospitals in Lebanon, Keene, and New London, N.H., and Windsor, VT, and Visiting Nurse and Hospice for Vermont and New Hampshire; and 24 Dartmouth-Hitchcock clinics that provide ambulatory services across New Hampshire and Vermont. The D-H system trains nearly 400 residents and fellows annually, and performs world-class research, in partnership with the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth and the White River Junction VA Medical Center in White River Junction, Vermont.