Truly A Wyoming Company

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Wyoming supports Wyoming nurses through scholarships

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Wyoming has been helping our citizens cover health care costs since 1945, and today is Wyoming’s only domestic health insurance company.

“All of our customers—also our family members, our friends, our neighbors—live in Wyoming,” says Diane Gore, president and CEO. “We are truly a Wyoming company. It is very meaningful to us to be a good corporate citizen.”

Gore has been with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Wyoming for 35 years. She began her career there one week after graduating from the University of Wyoming.

In 1990, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Wyoming established the Caring Foundation of Wyoming—to promote the good health and wellbeing of their neighbors. “We’ve always tried to focus on health-related items that impact the entire state,” Gore says.

The foundation’s support is a story of success. The initial focus of the foundation was to make sure the children of the state had health care access and coverage. The state then implemented the Kid Care CHIP program, which provides affordable health coverage for children. So the Caring Foundation turned to supporting women’s wellness visits, mammograms, and other health concerns. Then, along came the Affordable Care Act, mandating everyone have coverage, eliminating the need for this support. And so Blue Cross Blue Shield of Wyoming and the Caring Foundation asked themselves, “What else can we do to help with health care in the state of Wyoming?” They had been supporting health profession scholarships for a number of years, but this was an opportunity to really step up and support future health care providers.

Coincidentally, at this time, the UWFWWSON was developing the ReNEW program (Revolutionizing Nursing Education in Wyoming). This statewide program allows nursing students to earn their Bachelors of Nursing (BSN) degrees starting at one of Wyoming’s seven community colleges, then completing them through UW online while staying in home communities.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Wyoming loved this idea and wanted to support these hardworking future nurses. “They have Wyoming roots and Wyoming ties, and chances are they will stay in their local communities,” Gore says. In 2016, the Caring Foundation funded seven $1,000 scholarships, one at each of the community colleges, for students in the ReNEW program.

Then Blue Cross Blue Shield of Wyoming asked, “What else can we do?” The answer was adding three—and now five— $10,000 scholarships that support students in the family nurse practitioner or psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner tracks of the Doctor of Nurse Practice (DNP) program.

“Wyoming has always been special to me, lately even more so,” Gore says. “Though hit by the virus and ensuing economic impact, I still see people coming together to make the best of things. The spirit of Wyoming people brings us all together.”

Gore adds, “I love that—one Wyoming, one university, one state. There’s no place else in the country that can say that.”

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Nursing student Heather Michaelis administers the flu vaccine to a motorcyclist during the COVID19-style drivethrough 2020 Flu Clinics.