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Health & Fitness

Grant Funding Helps Roseville Children Gain, Retain Access to Health Care Coverage

Placer Children's Health Initiative Secures Grant from Mother Lode Foundation

Placer Children’s Health Initiative Secures Grant from Mother Lode Foundation

Placer County children will benefit from more access to comprehensive health care as a result of a $10,000 grant from the Mother Lode Foundation, the Placer Children’s Health Initiative (CHI) announced today. The grant money will further enhance outreach services to families with children 18 and younger, who are eligible for both private and public health insurance programs and aren’t accessing these programs. The programs include access to medical, vision and dental services.

“The Mother Lode Foundation investment brings us another step closer to helping all eligible children in Placer County obtain and retain health care services available to them,” said Amy Kelley, the CHI local administrator. “They have been a committed partner since CHI’s inception, first by providing funding to support premiums for dental and vision insurance, and now by supporting the application assistance outreach.”

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A feasibility study conducted in Placer County in 2007 estimated that there were approximately 4,400 children without medical insurance, and approximately eighty percent of those uninsured children were eligible for either Medi-Cal or Healthy Families. It was found that children were not being enrolled in the health care programs available to them due to lack of awareness and ability to fill-out applications.

The Placer CHI was created in 2007 to address the disconnect between existing health insurance programs and the families they seek to serve by supporting health care access. CHI works with organizations positioned throughout the county with Certified Application Assistant (CAA); staff members who help to families fill-out applications for Medi-Cal, Healthy Families and Kaiser Permanente Child Health Plan. CAAs also help these families retain and utilize the insurance after they enter the program. As a result, over six hundred children in Placer County have been enrolled and kept in comprehensive medical insurance to date due to services coordinated by CHI.

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“It is essential to all children and the communities they live in, that we tackle the challenge of reaching uninsured kids,” said Janice LeRoux, executive director of First 5 Placer, Children and Families Commission, another of the Placer CHIs’ funders.  “The health of our children, their outcomes in school and later, their contributions to the communities they live in, are dependent on our efforts now.”

The Certified Application Assistants are providing services in Roseville at the following location:

KidsFirst (Serving the Roseville and Auburn Communities)

124 Main Street, Roseville CA 95678

Families can learn more about the Placer Children’s  Health Initiative, how to access to free or low-cost health insurance for their children, and connect with a Certified Application Assistant by calling 530.885.9585 or visiting www.placerchi.com.

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