Cigna Recognizes Lena Pope for Commitment to Employee Health and Wellness

• 80 percent of employees have had biometric screenings
• 80 percent of employees have completed a health assessment
• Initial steps challenge had 93 percent participation

FORT WORTH, Texas – Sept. 13, 2015 – Cigna (NYSE: CI) has selected Lena Pope, the Fort Worth-based social service agency, as a recipient of the annual Cigna Well-Being Award. The award recognizes Lena Pope for demonstrating a strong commitment to improving the health and well-being of its employees through a workplace wellness program.

The Cigna recognition follows Lena Pope's designation as a participating organization in the Fort Worth Blue Zones Project, a healthy-city initiative based on making healthy choices readily available to the community. The Fort Worth City Council, which approved the Blue Zones Project in 2014, recently recognized Lena Pope for its efforts to improve the community's well-being.

In early 2016, Lena Pope established a new activity-based employee wellness program. By participating in and completing certain activities, such as completing a health assessment or having a biometric screening, employees have the opportunity to earn back a portion of their monthly health insurance premium. Initial results show a high level of employee engagement, with approximately 80 percent of eligible staff enrolling in the new wellness platform. In addition, 77 percent have completed on-site biometric screening or submitted a doctor's form, and 93 percent have participated in the agency's initial steps challenge, which encourages employees to track and record daily steps to earn prizes and cash through Lena Pope’s Wellness Program. Lena Pope provides employees with a free step-counting device or reimburses them $25 for other health tracking devices.

Next year, using 2016 as a baseline, Lena Pope will transition to an outcomes-based program in which employees will be rewarded for health improvement.

Lena Pope promotes a culture of health and wellness a number of ways, including: a policy against tobacco use during work hours or while conducting agency business; a tobacco and smoke free campus; flexible hours so employees can engage in physical activity during the work day; and healthy food choices at meetings and in vending machines. The agency has a walking path, as well as basketball and tennis courts that staff can use daily, and it also has bicycle racks at each entrance to encourage employees to bike to work. In addition, the agency provides staff showers and changing rooms to encourage fitness at all times during the day.

The commitment to a culture of health and wellness begins with the agency's senior leadership. They actively and visibly wear step devices, volunteer to be captains during step challenges, offer healthy snacks at meetings and in the break room, and communicate about wellness on a regular basis.

"At Lena Pope, we recognize that we cannot meet our mission without a healthy and productive workforce. It's the only way that we are able to serve our community with our counseling and education programs. We also know that we are only one part of a healthy community, which is why we are pleased to partner with the City of Fort Worth’s Blue Zones Project. Together, we can truly help create hope, happiness, and success for our staff, our clients, and all children and families in our community," said Todd Landry, CEO of Lena Pope.

"Employers like Lena Pope deserve recognition for creating a strong culture of health and wellness," said LaMonte Thomas, president and general manager for Cigna in North Texas and Oklahoma. "We're honored to be Lena Pope's health benefits partner and look forward to continuing our work together to help build healthier communities in North Texas."

Employers that apply for the Cigna Well-Being Award are evaluated based on the core components of their wellness program, including goals, implementation, incentives, leadership engagement and employee participation. All applications are evaluated by Cigna's internal multi-departmental review committee. The company recognizes two winning employers, one with 50 - 249 employees and one with 250 or more employees. Lena Pope was recognized in the smaller category.

About Lena Pope

Lena Pope's mission is to help create hope, happiness, and success for children and families. To accomplish this, Lena Pope focuses on counseling and education. Lena Pope provides mental health, substance abuse treatment, and family support services both in an office setting and within a family’s home or a child's school. Lena Pope operates Chapel Hill Academy, an open-enrollment public charter school for more than 500 elementary students in South Fort Worth. Lena Pope also has an Early Learning Center that provides quality early learning opportunities for 114 children ages six weeks to five years. For more, visit www.lenapope.org.

About Cigna

About Cigna Cigna Corporation (NYSE: CI) is a global health service company dedicated to helping people improve their health, well-being and sense of security. All products and services are provided exclusively by or through operating subsidiaries of Cigna Corporation, including Connecticut General Life Insurance Company, Cigna Health and Life Insurance Company, Life Insurance Company of North America and Cigna Life Insurance Company of New York. Such products and services include an integrated suite of health services, such as medical, dental, behavioral health, pharmacy, vision, supplemental benefits, and other related products including group life, accident and disability insurance. Cigna maintains sales capability in 30 countries and jurisdictions, and has more than 90 million customer relationships throughout the world. To learn more about Cigna®, including links to follow us on Facebook or Twitter, visit www.cigna.com.