HEALTHIER KIDS FOUNDATION
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Mission Statement
Healthier Kids Foundation Santa Clara County (HKF), believes that it should not hurt to be a child, and that one child without health care or health coverage is one child too many. HKF has made significant strides in its goal of providing universal health coverage to children by spending over a dozen years expanding children’s health coverage. The children in Santa Clara County now have the highest rate of health coverage of all of California’s 58 (98%) counties, and we pride ourselves on being the only nonprofit organization in the county solely focused on improving children’s health. Our mission is to ensure that every child in its community receives the family-centered care that he or she needs to thrive. HKF’s seven programs are dedicated to children’s health and ways in which we can help children to become “Healthier Earlier”.
About This Cause
Since inception in 2001, HKF has worked to ensure that all children have access to the quality health care that they need to thrive. Without good health, it is difficult for them to be academically and socially successful, both crucial to becoming a productive adult. The mission of HKF is to ensure that every child in its community receives the family-centered care that he or she needs to thrive. There is no human endeavor that is outside the realm of health. HKF works toward this mission by successfully partnering with community-based organizations, public entities, and public school systems (Head Start and state preschools, elementary schools, middle schools, and secondary schools) to: (a) provide health screenings (hearing, oral health, and vision) to low-income children; (b) connect parents to the appropriate preventative and intervention health services based on the outcome of their children’s screening results; (c) identify uninsured children and assist their parents with enrolling them into subsidized health coverage; and (d) provide healthy lifestyle education to parents and caregivers that help to prevent and reduce childhood and adolescent obesity. In the past three years, HKF has connected with over 900 sites throughout Santa Clara County to deliver these services to large populations of children where they naturally gather as a means of connecting them to preventive health services that contribute to their health, well-being, and educational outcomes. PROGRAMS Community Outreach, Prevention & Education Program (COPE): Identifies uninsured children and enrolls them into health coverage. Of the children in Santa Clara County, 2% or almost 9,200 are uninsured and need to be identified and enrolled into health coverage. While the federal/state governments funds Medi-Cal and the County funds the Valley Kids Program, there is not funding to conduct outreach unless through funds raised from alternative sources Baby Gateway Program: Assists mothers with enrolling their newborns into Medi-Cal, securing a medical home, and presenting information on emergency versus urgent care as a means to reduce emergency department visits for infants under the age of one. All of this is done bedside, before the mother and child are discharged from the hospital. Of the children born in Santa Clara County, 50% or 13,000 are potentially eligible for Medi-Cal. VisionFirst Program: Screens low-income children for vision problems and provides immediate follow-up care so that children access corrective vision services through their insurance and secure a vision home. Of the children in Santa Clara County, there could be as much as 14% or 63,300 who have untreated vision problems. DentalFirst Program: Screens low-income children for dental problems and provides immediate follow-up care so that children utilize their dental benefits to access dental services and secure a long-term dental home. Of the children in Santa Clara County, it is estimated that 25% or 113,000 have untreated dental issues (per the Santa Clara County Dental Society). HearingFirst Program: Screens low-income children for a hearing impairment and provides immediate follow-up care so that children access appropriate medical service through their insurance. Of the children in Santa Clara County, it is estimated that 10% or 45,200 children have untreated hearing issues. 10 Steps to a Healthier You Program: Provides parents with healthy lifestyles education through a three class series that promotes health and prevents chronic illness among children, reducing childhood obesity. Of the children in Santa Clara County, it is estimated that 30% o 135,600 are overweight or obese. Class I: '10 Steps to a Healthier You' Lifestyle Skills Training to Promote Health and Prevent Chronic Illness – Preparing the Home Environment Class II: Positive Discipline – Developing Routines & Structure Class III: 5 Keys to Raising a Healthy, Happy Eater – Division of Responsibility Challenge Team: A collaboration with local organizations who share a goal of supporting and improving the well-being of children and families in the community. Challenge Team fosters important community partnerships that share best known practices, reduce the duplication of services, and promote togetherness for the benefit of the local families. Evaluation for All Programs The data for our programs is collected in SalesForce.com, which tracks the step-by-step process from entering contact information for the children and families we serve to follow up data collected to ensure that children obtain health coverage and access preventive health services, as well as parents who attend our classes. Since the inception of each program, HKF has: • Visited 5,700 mothers in three participating hospitals and assisted with the enrollment of 5,350 newborns into Medi-Cal (Baby Gateway Program); • Identified 4,400 uninsured children and assisted them with enrolling into subsidized health coverage (Community Outreach Program); • Screened 41,000 children for vision issues (VisionFirst Program), 19,700 for oral health issues (DentalFirst Program), and 6,600 for hearing issues (HearingFirst); and • Delivered healthy lifestyle parenting education to 4,000 parents and caregivers (10 Steps to a Healthier You Program). BACKGROUND Santa Clara County was the first county in the nation to establish a county-wide initiative to reduce the number of uninsured children by (1) spearheading the movement to conduct aggressive outreach to enroll uninsured children into current health coverage programs, and (2) establishing the Healthy Kids program for those children who were ineligible for other programs at the time. In 2001, one in six children was uninsured. Through the success of our county’s Children’s Health Initiative (CHI) and Healthy Kids program, the number of children without health coverage has been reduced to 2%. The impressive leadership of community leaders in our county and their commitment to providing universal health coverage for all children is evident. Santa Clara County now has the highest percentage of insured children of any county in the state, per 2010 U.S. Census data. Our County’s CHI and its Healthy Kids program constituted a paradigm shift in how counties viewed universal health coverage. CHI, along with the Healthy Kids program, successfully reduced the number of uninsured children through a “no wrong door” approach. This was only possible because the leadership in our county made certain that it was – and continues to be – a priority that all children have health coverage. In doing so, the community applauds this effort as it has set a precedence for other counties throughout the state. The County’s focus on preventive health signifies a transformative progression towards achieving its long-term goals of increasing access to health coverage and health services. HKF, formerly Santa Clara Family Health Foundation, has focused the past twelve years on raising funds for the Children’s Health Initiative and the Healthy Kids program in Santa Clara County. HKF’s leadership in raising funds to provide almost 1.9 million months of coverage to low-income children enrolled in the Healthy Kids program, makes it an advocate for children obtaining and retaining health coverage, as well as accessing health services once they are insured. In 2013, HKF emerged with a new vision and mission. At its core is a “Healthier Earlier” philosophy and a goal to ensure that every child in its community receives the family-centered care that he or she needs to thrive. HKF is focusing its programs on prevention and wellness to ensure that children secure a medical home and parents are enabled with a healthy lifestyles education. Children who are healthy attend school more and perform better academically. Utilizing sophisticated evaluation methods to monitor and improve the impact of its programs, HKF assists uninsured children with obtaining health coverage, and once insured, assists parents with accessing health services that enable their children to become and remain healthy so that they miss less school days due to illness, greatly increasing their ability to learn and be successful in school. HKF takes its role of ensuring that children are healthy seriously. This is evident in our programs – Community Outreach, Education & Prevention (COPE) and Baby Gateway to assist children with obtaining health coverage, 10 Steps to a Healthier You, Challenge Team, and VisionFirst, DentalFirst, and HearingFirst to screen children for vision, dental, and hearing problems and assist them with obtaining follow-up services. CONCLUSION Collectively, our programs enable low-income children to access health coverage, so that they, in turn, can access preventive health services that enable them to secure a medical home, a dental home, and a vision home. HKF’s programs reinforce the Santa Clara County work in the area of children’s health – a transformative process that focuses on proactive instead of reactive health care. This is only possible because our County has bravely led the way to establishing universal health coverage for all children. Hopefully, this effort around wellness, prevention, and education can be implemented among all adults in our County once children and their families fully embrace the value of prevention.