City receives $6,000 in grants from Blue and You Foundation

BlueCross/BlueShield’s Blue & You Foundation for a Healthier Arkansas has awarded the City of Jonesboro six, $1,000 “mini-grants” focused on helping to improve the health of Jonesboro residents.

Included among the $1,000 awards are:

• Jonesboro Animal Control’s Health and Safety First program, which will pay for tourniquet kits and training for animal control officers in the field and office;

• the Fire Department’s Smoke Alarm program, in which JFD installs free smoke alarms for those in need;

• JET’s Improving Trauma Response Capabilities with Public Transit program, which will provide tourniquet kits in all of JET vehicles;

• the Police Department’s Get Fit program, which provides a fitness rower for officer use;

• Parks and Recreation’s Allen Park Trauma Kits program, which will place tourniquet kits for visitors at Allen Park Community Center to reduce response time of traumatic events.

• Automated External Defibrillators to be placed in the Municipal Center at 300 S. Church St. for use by employees and visitors.

City grant-writers applied for the funds in March. The Blue and You program announced the awards this week.

“These may be called mini-grants, but they have the potential to save lives,” City Director of Community Development Tiffny Calloway said.

Mayor Harold Perrin said the city’s partnership with BlueCross/BlueShield is an important one, and this program is but one example.

“The City appreciates the Blue and You Foundation, and having these kits is a service to not only our employees in the field, but our residents at large,” he said.