Back to Annual Meeting

Back to Annual Meeting

APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Barbara Neely, RN BSN MPH and Deborah Kelley, RN BSN. Department of School Health Services, Multnomah Education Service DIstrict, 11611 NE Ainsworth Circle, Portland, OR 97220, 503-257-1732, bneely@mesd.k12.or.us

Financial backing to any project is a challenging issue. The development of a budget and specific budget items is a crucial step in approaching those who would back the initiative. Societies as whole benefits when multiple sectors take a strong and public stance in support of children's health. An outreach project providing health insurance to children needs to take hold of all aspects and look to the education, corporate and foundation comminutes for support. Government agency support may not be set at a specific dollar value, but consist of staff support to run the initiative. School communities can support the initiative by, 1) making children's health insurance information visible to students and parents, 2) inviting school and community nurses an Medicaid outreach workers to make presentations to parents and staff, and 3) adding a question about insurance status to children's school registration forms and free/reduced lunch applications. Business and foundation communities can support the initiative by, 1) supporting expanded children's health insurance outreach efforts, 2) underwriting the cost of additional outreach staff who can focus their time specifically on supporting school-based outreach efforts, 3) underwriting the cost of producing and distributing materials that promote the effort and 4) donating coupons, gift certificates and product to the initiative to be used as incentives to support families who seek insurance for their children. Many community groups, agencies or companies may not be directly involved with the initiative, they should not be overlooked. Many of our community members can be employed for their specific talent or product. In a successfully run intuitive, neighborhood businesses and agencies will respond positively when their services can meet both your needs and theirs. Both the needs of a health care clinic or businesses and the children benefit when their all needs are met.

Learning Objectives:

• 1.Discuss options for collaborative fiscal agents.
• 2.Develop a list of potential grant opportunities or local funding

Keywords: Access to Health Care, Health Insurance

Related Web page: w3.mesd.k12.or.us/shs/childhealth/index.html

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No