• About Us
• News
• Community
• Careers

Press Releases: 2009

Select Health of South Carolina Partners with State to Help Prevent Sexual Child Abuse

Stewards of Children initiative to bring training to teachers and school leaders

Select Health of South Carolina has recently partnered with the South Carolina Department of Education and the non-profit organization Darkness to Light to sponsor the “Stewards of Children” initiative to provide training programs to educate teachers, school leaders and other education officials on steps they can take to prevent, recognize, and react responsibly to the sexual abuse of children.

"Select Health of South Carolina is committed to helping reduce and prevent the incidences of sexual child abuse in South Carolina," said Kathy Stone, vice president of Public Affairs at Select Health. "We are proud to help sponsor the "Stewards of Children" initiative to help provide the training and resources necessary to recognize this abuse and to making sure it is prevented."

South Carolina teachers are already leading the nation with training, and by the end of 2009 more than 20,000 South Carolina teachers and school employees will have completed child sexual abuse prevention training.  Darkness to Light, an organization dedicated to the prevention of child sexual abuse through public education and awareness, estimates that by the end of 2010, more than 75 percent of school teachers and school employees in the state will have completed the training.

About Select Health
Incorporated in 1995, Select Health was licensed as a Health Maintenance Organization by the South Carolina Department of Insurance in 1996.  Later that year, the company contracted with the Department of Health and Human Services to offer First Choice, the state’s first Medicaid managed care plan.  Select Health is accredited by URAC and is a wholly owned subsidiary of AmeriHealth Mercy.  The AmeriHealth Mercy Family of Companies touches the lives of more than 6.5 million members nationwide.