Informational Services
Teachers for Healthy Kids is acutely aware of the issues impacting students’ access to coverage. We are involved in the legislative process and represent the interests of the schools, students and families our projects support on a local and national level. We work to keep educators and other key stakeholders informed of the policies, available resources, and news updates impacting our joint efforts. This website was designed to both promote the work we do and function to support it by providing valuable information and resources to educators and other children’s health advocates. If you have not found what you are looking for, please email us, and we will try to answer your questions or direct you to a resource who can.
Student-specific Targeted Outreach
Preliminary experience with the use of the CHIPER Report has been positive. Using the reports to identify students whose insurance is lapsing or expired is the first step toward targeting outreach where it is most needed. Many attempts to contact families have been successful and have resulted in enrolling the child. Also, sometimes children who are identified on the list have siblings that may be eligible for insurance and the outreach worker can take steps to enroll the additional children.
We have learned that the most challenging aspect of this process is having the correct contact information for families. Target families often move and change phone numbers or own prepaid phones and do not maintain the credit necessary to receive calls. To overcome this communication barrier, SCUSD and MCOE have partnered with local welfare offices. In Sacramento, the Department of Human Assistance (DHA) has the most current information on clients which may help outreach workers access to this information and further streamline outreach efforts to families. SCUSD also uses its District level student database (Zangle) to verify and/or correct contact information. Similarly, MCOE has already established a working relationship with the County Department of Social Services (DSS), which facilitates eligibility determination.
It is also important to have a bilingual outreach team. Both MCOE and SCUSD have a Spanish bilingual outreach worker who is effective on the phone for the first contact. This is a critical component of establishing initial rapport with the family.
* CHIPER Software and reporting template developed and maintained by Teachers for Healthy Kids.
