PRESS RELEASE

UnitedHealthcare and YES Housing Partnership Brings Innovative "Vive Salud" Program to Residents of New Affordable-Housing Community in Downtown Albuquerque

June 13, 2017

UnitedHealthcare employees and residents of The Imperial Building plant flowers for pollination for a rooftop garden funded through a grant by UnitedHealthcare and YES Housing. L to R: UnitedHealthcare employee Sharon Tafoya and Mary Ann Hennigan and The Imperial Building resident Vanessa Sanchez. Photo Credit: David Martinez

  • Onsite healthy living coordinator uses rooftop garden, cooking classes, exercise and education courses to help residents live healthier lives

Residents, community leaders and program partners YES Housing and UnitedHealthcare celebrated "Vive Salud," an innovative partnership that is connecting residents of The Imperial Building with resources to help them live healthier lives. 

UnitedHealthcare provided a $15,000 grant, matched by YES Housing, to hire an onsite healthy-living coordinator to manage a rooftop garden and healthy-living program. In addition to the rooftop garden, which produces fresh fruits and vegetables for residents, the program includes regular cooking classes, exercising with fitness instructors, visits to the grocery store to learn about healthy food choices, and assistance for residents to help ensure they have access to available health and wellness programs.

During the event, UnitedHealthcare employees, along with mascot Dr. Health E. Hound, joined residents to highlight some of the benefits of "Vive Salud," helping plant vegetables in the new rooftop garden and participating in exercises and a healthy cooking demonstration.

UnitedHealthcare was the largest investor in The Imperial Building, providing $12 million for the new mixed-use affordable housing community with 74 apartments and a grocery store, that opened in the heart of downtown Albuquerque in 2016. It's part of $42 million UnitedHealthcare has invested to build six affordable-housing communities in New Mexico.

About UnitedHealthcare

UnitedHealthcare is dedicated to helping people nationwide live healthier lives by simplifying the health care experience, meeting consumer health and wellness needs, and sustaining trusted relationships with care providers. The company offers the full spectrum of health benefit program for individualsemployers, military service members, retirees and their families, and Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, and contracts directly with more than 1 million physicians and care professionals, and 6,000 hospitals and other care facilities nationwide. UnitedHealthcare is one of the businesses of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH), a diversified Fortune 50 health and well-being company. For more information, visit UnitedHealthcare at uhc.com or follow @myUHC on Twitter.