Children’s Policy Forum
Beginning on the evening of December 10th, at the India Center in Charleston, WV the WV Healthy Kids Coalition along with the WV Coalition for West Virginia’s Children and the West Virginia Welfare Reform Coalition will host a dinner, Champions for Children. It is to recognize that 94 percent of eligible children have been enrolled in CHIP or Medicaid. Awards for outstanding contributions to the lives of children will be given to deserving individuals.

The 2002 Children’s Policy Forum begins the next morning at the John XXIII Center. The focus of this year’s forum will be on communications with the media and the public. Watch for registration materials in the mail. The next meeting of the WVHKC is scheduled for January 15, 2020 in Charleston.

New Contact Information:
The WVHKC has a new Project Director, Julie Greathouse, formerly Outreach Coordinator at Roane Family Health Care in Spencer. Julie can be reached: 304-558-0600, Suite 300, 210 Brooks Street, Charleston, WV 25301 or jdg_outreach@hotmail.com. The website has just been redesigned with updated information. Click on www.wvhealthykids.org.

What is "inROADS"?
The WVHKC is collaborating with the Department of Health and Human Resources Department on a RAPIDS project called ‘inROADS’ (Information Network for Resident On-Line Access and Delivery of Services). It is an on-line application project.

InROADS will allow residents to apply for WVCHIP, Children’s Medicaid, and Pregnant Woman Medicaid via an on-line application process. Community partners, including outreach sites, will be able to utilize inROADS to assist customers in applying for programs as well as track the number of applications submitted.

Development and customization of the project will continue through April 2003 with a pilot test at the end of April. Statewide rollout of inROADS is scheduled for May 2003.

As of October 31, 2020, there were
21,126 children enrolled in CHIP.

Back to School Out Reach Results
We are proud to report that Back-to-School 2002 Project was a tremendous success. More than 1,200 events took place across the country with more than 60 in West Virginia. The results locally included an increase of calls to the hotline and 500 children were enrolled in CHIP.
To date, Covering Kids and its partners have reached an estimated audience of more than 114 million through Back-to-School 2002 media outreach media outreach efforts. Television stories ran in at least 120 U.S. cities, including 46 of the top 50 markets. Radio stories appeared in all of the top 50 markets, and more than 450 stories ran in print publications across 48 states and the District of Columbia.

The success of this campaign would not have been possible without efforts our local outreach coordinators, Family Resource Networks and many others. Thank you for all of your hard work.

The HKC recently established a Prevention Committee to focus on the following goals: (1) educate HKC members about prevention and wellness, (2) build and sustain the coalition by expanding our focus, and (3) promote primary and secondary prevention. One of the priorities of the committee is to work on increasing the understanding of prevention and the use of "well-care" by families who receive their medical coverage through WVCHIP and Medicaid. This is based on two theories. First, families who understand the value of prevention and wellness are more likely to maintain a continuity of care (re-enroll in a timely manner) than those who use the medical system for treating acute episodes. And second, outcomes for families are better and systems costs should be lower when families use the medical system in a preventive/wellness manner, rather than for sick or emergency care.
This committee will also take the lead in convening a statewide group to develop a children’s supplement to the West Virginia Healthy People 2010 objectives. Members of the committee met with Tom Sims, WVBPH Health Promotion Director, and some of his staff in October to discuss this project. Janet Hunt, the committee chair, hopes to schedule a meeting to begin work on this process early in 2003.