OGDENSBURG -- Excellus BlueCross BlueShield recently awarded Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center with a Community Health Award of $4,000 to help support the organization’s Community Wellness Program, a combination of diabetes self-management education-based courses offered for free through its Diabetes Education and Community Relations departments.

The Community Wellness Program has helped area participants shed nearly 1,700 pounds since its initiation in 2014 and, with this additional funding, will now have more resources to encourage and reinforce healthier behaviors in participants who complete its free courses, Excellus said in an announcement.

Awards focus on improving the health status of the community, reducing the incidence of specific diseases, promoting health education and enhancing overall wellness and are made based on scope of need, goals of the program, number of people expected to benefit from the program and positive impact on the community’s health status.

For more information about the Community Wellness Program at Claxton-Hepburn and class availability, visit https://www.claxtonhepburn.org/our-services/diabetes-education/.