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P H o t o g r a P H i c m o m e n t s 1 4 7 Aetna headquarters, located in Hartford. uted $394 million in grants and sponsorships. Aetna's legacy of community involvement and volunteerism is part of its past, its present and its future. "As a corpo- rate citizen, Aetna has certain responsibilities," said Mark Bertolini, Aetna's chairman, CEO and presi- dent. "Our company's leaders and our actions can set an example for others." Today, the Aetna Foundation is emerging as a for- ward-thinking national health foundation focused on improving population health in three key ways: improving racial and ethnic equity in the health care system, curtailing the obesity epidemic that threatens the health of so many Americans, including our chil- dren, and building a more integrated health care system that delivers improved quality of care more efficiently and effectively. Working with leading insti- tutions such as the Brookings Institution, the Institutes of Medicine, AcademyHealth, and Health 2.0, as well as numerous universities, the Aetna Foundation is helping to establish the science, the data, and the proof behind new solutions to these vexing problems to help inform public policy and drive lasting change and improvement. At the same time, Aetna is working and giving locally — in Connecticut and across the nation — to improve the communities where its customers and employees live and work. Aetna understands that healthy, vibrant people and healthy, vibrant commu- nities go hand in hand, so across our markets we consider grant-making opportunities that will have a wide-ranging and positive impact on the public health, the local economy and the social programs that support each community. The Aetna Employees Reaching Out (AERO) is the vehicle through which the company's 33,000 employees are empowered, motivated and mobilized to be a force for good in their own communities across the country. In 2003, Aetna celebrated its 150th anniversary, and launched to build on employ- ees' enthusiasm for volunteerism. Last year Aetna employees generously donated nearly 335,000 hours of their personal time and talents; Connecticut vol- unteer hours represented almost 30 percent of the total. During the same period, Aetna and the Aetna Foundation awarded $15.6 million in grants to 661 nonprofits and employees gave additional financial Continued on next page