To improve health. Three words. One purpose. Full of momentum.

As health care leaders, the BJC HealthCare affiliated hospitals are not content simply to maintain health. We work diligently with people in our communities to improve health and enhance their quality of life.

We've touched the lives of children -- protecting them from accidents, abuse, illness -- and promoted healthy lifestyles.

Along with hospital-initiated child-advocacy programs, BJC HealthCare's affiliated hospitals partner with community organizations to promote health and wellness; and conducts injury prevention programs for young people on topics such as crib, gun, bicycle and poison safety.

Employees at Christian Hospital, for example, partnered with the Florissant Police Department to offer free infant car safety seats to parents who couldn't afford to buy them.

Immunizations and check-ups for vision, hearing, teeth, and growth and development are provided in schools and at special events for families with low incomes by health promotions staff and volunteers from hospitals such as St. Louis Children's Hospital.

In the classroom, we sponsor one of the largest school outreach programs in mid-Missouri and the St. Louis region. More than 300 lectures, screenings, and health fairs for elementary, junior- and senior-high school students, teachers and coaches are offered annually. Programs focused on topics such as nutrition, smoking, alcohol, ethics, self-esteem, sports safety, career selection, relationships and team building. Preschoolers also participate in health and safety programs developed around St. Louis Children's Hospital's friendly mascot, Snerdlihc (Children's spelled backwards).

Further extending our helping hand to children, we volunteer in an extensive youth mentoring network in Missouri and Illinois in an effort to positively influence students who are at-risk.

And we foster and participate in school/business partnerships, which allow employees of large and small businesses to bring their expertise into the classroom.

In Illinois, as part of an effort to influence health and fitness, our Alton Memorial Hospital became the sole regional sponsor of a national pilot program called Project Fit America, which is in more than 140 cities in 35 states. Project Fit America pairs hospital sponsors with local schools, thus initiating the Alton Memorial Hospital fit with nearby St. Ambrose Parish School. In 1996, Alton Memorial Hospital funded the purchase of new outdoor exercise equipment to help improve students' results in standardized fitness tests. The hospital also funded the development of written materials and teacher training.

In May 1996, we made a special investment in early childhood education. As part of a land-swap agreement between BJC HealthCare and the St. Louis Public Schools, we began construction on the Stix Early Childhood Center in exchange for ownership of the former Stix and Michael schools, and land adjacent to Barnes-Jewish Hospital. The new school, to which we contributed more than $7.4 million of the construction cost, opened this past fall with a capacity for more than 500 students in preschool through second grade. We've pledged to continue our relationship beyond construction and are developing innovative programs focused on improved health and quality of life for the school's students, parents and faculty.

Beyond the scope of children's outreach efforts, we provide health-care services to many people with special needs or who are unable to pay. In addition to $136.1 million in uncompensated care provided in 2000, employees of the various affiliated hospitals worked diligently to find community resources to help needy patients. The effort included securing grants to buy new cribs and mattresses for children from low-income families and the donation of surplus medical equipment to local and international charities.

Hospital employees help qualified women secure free mammograms through our mobile mammography program and our hospital-based clinics. For residents who can't read or understand traditional educational materials, the Jewish Hospital Auxiliary in support of Barnes-Jewish Hospital sponsors HEAL (Health Education and Adult Literacy), a program that teaches St. Louis residents about breast and cervical cancer detection.

In several hospitals, a discharge management fund helps families secure needed services following their release from the hospital. Funds have been used to establish or reconnect utilities, provide transportation, or buy equipment or medicine not covered by insurance.

Barnes-Jewish Hospital's New American Program has been meeting the needs of immigrants and refugees since 1902. The program, which originally was conceived at the former Jewish Hospital, helps immigrants from different cultures begin their lives as healthy new Americans and provides translators and health services.

Improved lifestyles are also the focus of numerous mental-health services offered through several of our hospitals and free-standing centers. In late 1996, we were awarded a contract to operate three state-owned mental-health outpatient treatment centers in Missouri. The centers provide both adults and children with mental-health screenings, assessments, treatment planning, therapy and clinical case management. Through another contractual agreement, we support the Independence Center, which nurtures adults with mental illnesses and helps them live and work independently, with dignity.

In 2002, we offered the public nearly 1,500 lectures, health screenings, support groups and immunization programs. Thousands were screened for cancer, poor vision and hearing, and other health risks. And in many of our communities, such as Sullivan, Missouri, and Vandalia, Illinois, we partner with local health departments to offer community health fairs.

In the metropolitan St. Louis region, we collaborate with the Missouri Department of Health to offer flu-shot clinics, including accommodations at all locations for those with physical disabilities to receive the flu vaccine while they remained in their cars.

BJC HealthCare is and intends to remain an organization that benefits communities. The system's operating efficiencies and cost savings help generate resources -- financial and otherwise -- that are needed to continue providing the broad range of health-care services that BJC HealthCare's affiliated hospitals currently provides to a wide variety of communities.