COALITION STARTS HEALTH-CARE DRIVE FOR KIDS.

Byline: Michael Coit Daily News Staff Writer

A public-private coalition launched an aggressive effort Monday to enroll low-income children in health programs in the northeast San Fernando Valley.

The pilot program targets a region where more than 75 percent of the 25,000 students in public schools qualify for low-income assistance and could enroll in either Medi-Cal or the state's Healthy Families program, officials said.

The need for an outreach program has been heightened by the dismal enrollment in Healthy Families, a low-cost insurance program for children, in Los Angeles County and statewide. Only about 10 percent of eligible working families in the county have enrolled in the low-cost insurance program for children since it began in July, county health officials said.

``We have a crisis in child health care in this county,'' said Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who joined with school, health care, and legal services officials to announce the outreach program in Pacoima.

``We're trying to accelerate the contact our kids have with our health care system,'' he said. ``What we learn from this might be used statewide and throughout the nation.''

The program calls for the Los Angeles Unified School District, the county Department of Health Services and nonprofit community organizations to determine why eligible families don't enroll in programs that provide health care to eligible children. Then they will attempt to enroll them.

Two school district employees will do interviews at the county's Mid-Valley Comprehensive Health Center in Van Nuys. Interviews also will be done in schools and at community organizations by trained parents and volunteers.

``This is an aggressive enrollment effort . . . people will actually be out in the community,'' said Ernest Espinoza, assistant administrator for Valley Care, the county's network of health care centers and nonprofit community-based clinics.

Many families who don't enroll in either Medi-Cal or Healthy Families are immigrants who fear that joining could jeopardize their chances to gain permanent legal status. Because the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service can stop them from becoming a permanent resident if they are dependent on federal or state government benefits, the outreach will help families determine eligibility and provide referrals to other programs, officials said.

Other hurdles might include confusing applications and language barriers.

There are some 2.5 million uninsured residents in the county. That total includes 700,000 children, with 122,000 of those children in the Valley, Yaroslavsky noted.

``What we're trying to do is really launch another element in what is becoming a full court press throughout the county, but especially in the San Fernando Valley, which is one of the fastest growing areas of need in California,'' he said.

The Health Consumer Center also provides a toll-free number to answer questions about enrollment and eligibility and to help families denied health care. The number is [phone].

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PHOTO Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky says there is a ``crisis in child health care.''

Gus Ruelas/Daily News