Blue Cross Blue Shield office closure disrupts Big Brothers Big Sisters mentoring program

Wichita Falls (KFDX/KJTL) — The closure of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas's Wichita Falls office is affecting a mentoring program run by Big Brothers Big Sisters, organization officials say.

Big Brothers Big Sisters Market President Jean Hall said employees at the Southwest Parkway office served as mentors for roughly 15 children in the BBBS program, using the workplace itself as the meeting site.

"A lot of our volunteerism was built right into their workplace," Hall said. "We would pick kids up from school and bring them to Blue Cross Blue Shield, and it made it so easy for the employees to volunteer because it was right in their office space."

According to Hall, 15 employees worked with the 15 children at the office, and the nonprofit could typically count on 50 to 75 volunteers from the workforce over the course of a year.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas, in a statement provided to KFDX/KJTL, said it is shifting Wichita Falls employees from a partially remote schedule to fully remote and is "consolidating" its physical footprint.

"Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas is committed to our mission of expanding access to quality care for people at all stages of life," the statement reads in part. "We continuously evaluate our workforce and business operations to ensure that we are effective and productive as we meet the challenges of an evolving health care industry. As part of our ongoing efforts to support the growing needs of our business, BCBSTX employees at our Wichita Falls office will shift from a partially remote work schedule to fully remote work. As a result, we are consolidating our physical footprint."

Hall said the organization now has to determine how to maintain each mentoring match, noting that at least one employee has withdrawn from the program because of time constraints.

"We could have some of them shift to community-based. We could have some of them shift into a site-based program that meets somewhere else," Hall said.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Wichita County continues to seek volunteers and donations for the program.