Ivan Alvarez from Coachella spends recess time with his buddie Ernie.
The involvement of teachers is critical to the success of any health outreach project aimed at getting school children insured, but how can you ask teachers to undertake one more responsibility when they are already overburdened with demands and responsibilities in addition to teaching?
In March of this year, that question was posed to eight focus groups of CTA members around the state. The purpose was to determine the level of teacher awareness about public health insurance programs for children; the willingness of teachers to become further involved in health outreach; the activities that teachers were most willing to engage in, if any; and the conditions under which teachers would agree to be involved.
Arturro Gutierrez in Coachella practices brushing his teeth.
The results of the focus groups were consistent in each geographic area:
- Teachers agreed that the lack of health care directly impacts student performance and achievement.
- Teachers were generally not aware of the affordable health coverage programs available to their students and assumed that most parents were probably unaware as well.
- Upon learning about the Healthy Families and Medi-Cal for Families health insurance programs, teachers expressed strong support for the concept.
- Teachers agreed that they are in a unique position to communicate with families.
- Teachers said they and their colleagues were likely to be highly committed to helping in the effort to increase awareness of health coverage programs for children if provided with education and on-site training.
- Teachers said they would be willing to distribute information to parents but did not want to expand their existing workload, be viewed as insurance salespeople or be responsible for filling out paperwork or tracking enrollment.
Armed with this information and invigorated by the receptiveness to the idea of getting involved in health outreach, CTA and the California Association of Health Plans (CAHP) submitted a grant proposal to the California Endowment. The chief grant-writer, Placentia-Linda Educators Association President Eileen Fetters, says the hope is that funding will help broaden the scope of the project and maximize the success of outreach efforts.
Dennis Slominski in Byron does research for a paper.
Teachers are being asked to reinforce verbally the availability of affordable health insurance and explain to parents why it's important for children to come to school healthy and ready to learn. Teachers and other school employees are also being asked to send information home along with notices about parent conferences and classroom activities, or with menus for free or reduced-price lunches.
Participation in the Teachers for Healthy Kids project will be strictly voluntary, both for local chapters and for teachers and other school professionals.
Initial outreach efforts will be targeted at school districts implementing Express Lane Eligibility, a program that links the application process for children wishing to participate in the free or reduced-price school lunch program with the application for low- or no-cost health insurance. The program will focus on Schools of Greatest Need initially and be expanded to other schools as additional resources become available.
Melecia Morales in Santa Ana and her daughter Diana practice English.
CTA is putting its organizational strength behind Teachers for Healthy Kids. "As part of its community outreach efforts, CTA will position itself as a health information resource to parents," says CTA President Wayne Johnson. "As parents become more aware of the availability of this resource, it is critical for CTA staff, governance and leadership to be capable of responding to parents' inquiries."
Every effort will be made to involve staff, leaders and members in the education process. Education will include not only increasing awareness about available insurance programs, but also demonstrating strategies for talking to families in ways that are culturally sensitive and respectful of parental values and privacy concerns.
For its part, the organization of health plans will develop a health insurance curriculum and provide in-service training.
CAHP and its member plans have been trying for some time to make sure that every California child eligible for government-supported insurance gets enrolled. "We have made some progress toward that goal - but not enough," says CAHP spokesman Walter Zelman. "The commitment of CTA and its members to that goal is nothing less than an enormous breakthrough. To date, teachers have been the missing link in the enrollment chain. Teachers, it was presumed, wouldn't want any more burdens. Given the challenges already facing them every day, how could anyone ask them to take on one as daunting as reducing the number of children without health insurance?
In South El Monte, Steven Fong enjoys a song break.
"But in the end, it turns out there was only one reason why teachers and the CTA weren't involved: they had not been asked. It took all of about 30 minutes for CTA leaders to see the connections between good education and access to health care."
Zelman says CAHP will follow CTA's lead in how it can be of assistance. "We understand the limits on your time. We know the last thing you need is more paperwork. Together we need to plan programs and strategies that enable you to make the absolute most of the opportunities you may have to assist in this project. We are proud to be partners with you in this project."
For more information on the Teachers for Healthy Kids project, call (888) 747-1222.
