Healthy environments are essential to the well-being of children. Access to health care contributes to child and family wellness and serves as a protective factor.
Since 1999, KidsFirst has played a major enroll in increasing the number of children protected by health insurance coverage by 540%.
In the last four years, we over 1,500 children have been assisted. In a recent survey of participating families, one-third reported relying on emergency room services for preventive care prior to enrollment. Of those families, 92% report that they established a primary care provider following enrollment.
One Family's Story:
Jason and Amanda, parents of three children, ages 9, 5 and 2 were referred by a local elementary school to KidsFirst. Jason is a construction worker and was laid off from his job. Bills were mounting and making ends meet was becoming increasingly difficult. They didn’t have much food, couldn’t pay their bills and the children were overdue for check-up by their doctor.
A coach met with Jason and Amanda and listened to their story. Our coach secured food for the family, helped them develop a budget, including establishing a payment plan for their bills, and began working with Dad to find a job. The children were enrolled in low-cost health insurance and visited their doctor for a check-up. Our staff helped Jason (Dad) update his resume’ and within 6 weeks, he started a new job! The family is now much more stable and sees a bright future ahead!
If you need assistance finding health insurance for your child, please email kidsfirst@kidsfirstnow.org
