YMCA, Quest Partner to Launch Community Wellness Initiative

Quest Diagnostics and the Madison Area YMCA have partnered to establish an innovative new Community Wellness Initiative, which launched simultaneously last Wednesday with the Y’s annual campaign kickoff.

Quest Diagnostics and the Madison Area YMCA, which reaches those living and working in Madison, Chatham and Florham Park, established the partnership this winter with shared goals to help improve health literacy and health behaviors in the community. This corporate partnership for community wellness is the first of its kind for the Madison Area YMCA.

“We are honored and excited to partner with Quest, a leader in the healthcare industry and in corporate social responsibility,” Madison Area YMCA President and CEO Diane Mann said. “Quest and the Y share many common goals for wellness and community well being, and our shared commitments to social responsibility and community health led to forming this wonderful initiative for our area.”

In November 2012, Quest CEO Steve Rusckowski founded, along with Madison Mayor Bob Conley and Drew University President Vivian Bull, the award-winning Chief Executive Council for Madison (CECM), inviting chief executives who lead corporations in Madison or live in Madison and lead corporations elsewhere to come together for stakeholder collaboration, collective community impact, and to foster the next generation of Madison’s leaders.

Y CEO Mann and Board Chairman Tom Uhlman were invited to serve on the CECM, and the Quest-Y Madison partnership is but one example of impact yielded from that collaborative group, which recently earned the New Jersey State Department of Community Affairs Innovation in Governance award.

“Both the Y and Quest see social responsibility and better health as integral to the services we provide to individuals and families. As a healthcare leader dedicated to empowering better health with diagnostic insights—and with our 40,000 employees dedicated to creating a healthier world—we saw in the Madison Area YMCA a partner with strong leadership and impact with whom to join forces and empower our local community to be strong and well,” said Barb Short, executive director of the Quest Diagnostics Foundation and director of Corporate Social Responsibility and Global Inclusion for the company. 

“We’re looking forward to teaming up with the Y and the local community to improve our health literacy and our health behaviors, and in so doing, learn how we can better maintain good health, manage chronic illness and fight off disease.”

Highlights of the partnership will include vouchers for Quest Blueprint for Wellness screenings and “My Guide to Health personal reports to help participants understand their current health status, identify risks and consider appropriate lifestyle, exercise and nutrition changes.

The 2014 initiative also plans workshops and a speaker series on wellness, health, nutrition and healthy lifestyles for children, teens and adults of all ages. The 2012 Olympic gold medalist for women’s rowing and Quest community wellness ambassador, Esther Lofgren, will also participate in key wellness events.

The Madison Area YMCA’s annual campaign raises awareness and charitable support for the Y’s cause to advance social responsibility, healthy living and youth development. Funds donated to the campaign help ensure that Y membership and programs are accessible to all community members regardless of ability to pay.

The 2014 Community Wellness Initiative, timed with the campaign kickoff, is chaired by Quest’s National QuestCares Leader Caitlin McHugh and Madison QuestCares Leader Steve Bonventre, in partnership with Y leadership and QuestCares. Madison employee volunteers are teamed up with Y leadership, staff and volunteers to raise health literacy, awareness and funds.

In photo above: From left, Madison Area YMCA Senior Director of Organizational Development Sharon Kunas; Quest’s National QuestCares Leader Caitlin McHugh; Madison Area YMCA 2014 Annual Campaign Volunteer Chairperson Kerry Patel; Philanthropy Chair of the Madison Area YMCA Board Georgeanne Limbach; Barb Short, the Executive Director of the Quest Diagnostics Foundation and director of Corporate Social Responsibility and Global Inclusion for the company; and Madison Area YMCA President & CEO Diane Mann.