ST. LOUIS, June 17, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Centene Corporation (NYSE: CNC) has announced the winners of the Centene Institute Youth Impact Award for Vaping Prevention. The national program is a curriculum and contest for adolescents ages 14 through 19 to raise awareness about vaping, e-cigarette use and prevention. The three national winners from Ohio, Georgia and New Jersey were recognized for their exceptional work and received awards during a virtual ceremony on June 14, 2021. The winning submission from Ohio can be viewed here.
The contest challenged youth to take action by developing and submitting a 30 to 60-second Public Service Announcement (PSA) video to educate their peers about the dangers of vaping. The contest accepted submissions from January 19 through April 16, 2021. During that time, Centene received over 150 entries across 30 states. The winning submissions were evaluated by judges based on the effectiveness of the message, originality and production quality.
"Over the past decade, we have seen an alarming increase in the use of e-cigarettes by middle and high school students," said Ken Yamaguchi, M.D., Executive Vice President, Chief Medical Officer for Centene. "We are pleased with the many students who participated in the contest. They showed incredible understanding of the dangers of vaping and actively became a part of the solution."
In December 2018, the U.S. Surgeon General declared youth vaping a public health epidemic. The COVID-19 pandemic has further complicated e-cigarette use in adolescents. Recent research suggests that youth who vape and use e-cigarettes have an elevated risk for COVID-19 infection.
"Due to the compounding factors of the vaping epidemic and COVID-19, it is important that teenagers and young adults understand the dangers they face," said Mary Mason, M.D., Senior Vice President, Chief Medical Officer for the Centene Institute for Advanced Health Education. "This initiative is an important part of Centene's commitment to health literacy and disease prevention to address the rapid increase in nicotine use among our nation's youth."
About Centene Corporation
Centene Corporation, a Fortune 25 company, is a leading multi-national healthcare enterprise that is committed to helping people live healthier lives. The Company takes a local approach – with local brands and local teams – to provide fully integrated, high-quality, and cost-effective services to government sponsored and commercial healthcare programs, focusing on under-insured and uninsured individuals. Centene offers affordable and high-quality products to nearly 1 in 15 individuals across the nation, including Medicaid and Medicare members (including Medicare Prescription Drug Plans) as well as individuals and families served by the Health Insurance Marketplace, the TRICARE program, and individuals in correctional facilities. The Company also serves several international markets, and contracts with other healthcare and commercial organizations to provide a variety of specialty services focused on treating the whole person. Centene focuses on long-term growth and the development of its people, systems and capabilities so that it can better serve its members, providers, local communities, and government partners.
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This list of important factors is not intended to be exhaustive. We discuss certain of these matters more fully, as well as certain other factors that may affect our business operations, financial condition and results of operations, in our annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K. Due to these important factors and risks, we cannot give assurances with respect to our future performance, including without limitation our ability to maintain adequate premium levels or our ability to control our future medical and selling, general and administrative costs.
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