Tresa Knoff FSST Clinic Contract Health Administrator, and Julie Wood FSST Patient Benefits Coordinator hosted a conference on June 7th – 9th, 2010 at the Royal River Casino “AKU LA CHIPRA PROJECT” in celebration of the FSST Clinic being one of the recipients of the CHIPRA (Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorizations Act) grant monies in the amount of $300,000 that was awarded in April 2010 for a three year period. The purpose of the CHIPRA Grant is to increase the number of Native American children, and eligible pregnant women enrolled in Medicaid. Those attending the conference were from various state, tribal and IHS clinics as well as FSST Trustee II Richard Allen.
The main objectives for the three year CHIPRA program are to:
v Form a united front to enroll eligible Native American children in CHIP to ensure they have access to the best health care possible and that eligible pregnant women are enrolled, helping to guarantee their babies begin the life with the best possible health care available. This same commitment carries over to retention of Native American children currently receiving these benefits.
v Educate Problem solve, brainstorm, track and implement changes if needed to the CHIP recruitment and enrollment process are some activities at the next five forums. The forums will take place in January and June of 2011, 2012, and April of 2013. As part of the ongoing forums it will be stressed to the tribes/reservations participating in this project that this is a 3 year project with a proposed process for increasing and retaining children in the health care system and the process is flexible and expected to continue after the end of this project.
v Hold monthly conference calls to discuss problems, develop program material, share success stories and update progress being made. The success of this project will be significantly higher as a unified effort among
South Dakota tribes to reach a common overall goal on increased and retaining children in the health care system and the process is flexible and expected to continue after the end of this project.
v Hire & Train part-time personnel to assist individuals on each reservation with the enrollment process and “Blitz” campaign. (FSST personnel team with reservation personnel for 3-5 days)
v Offer enrollment and retention opportunities at highly attended events such as school registration, Pow-wow’s, health fairs, sporting events, immunization clinics and etc.
v Campaig n on each reservation with personnel from FSST to aid in the enrollment and retention process. To assure that the “Blitz” campaign is successful, a pre-planning meeting will take place prior to the “Blitz” on-site with each reservation.
v Educate families about the health care system: who is eligible, what the requirements are, where do they receive assistance, when can a person apply and why is this important for a child or pregnant women.
During the CHIPRA conference’s banquet Linda Robinson, representative from Senator Tim Johnson’s office, commended the FSST Clinic Staff as well as Julie Wood for working on a way to address the problem concerning the high rate of native american children in SD that have little or no private insurance, despite the Federal government’s treaties, many Native Americans have inadequate health care.
SD Representative Stephanie-Herseth Sandlin took the podium; she thanked and  congratulated Teresa Knoff, Julie Wood and IHS for the work it took to receive this wonderful grant that will benefit Native American children. Representative Sandlin went on to say, “I believe a strong SD depends on the health of our people, insuring low income children should be a priority, and every child across SD deserves quality healthcare.
The last speaker of the night was Moses J. Brings Plenty a motivations speaker as well as a musician, actor, model and former member of Brule; expressed his happiness that this grant provides the opportunity to set an example for the world – to begin to bridge the gap between cultures. As well as the hope that the future generations won’t have to have conferences like this one over who has healthcare and who doesn’t.
Thank you Teresa Knoff, Julie Wood and everybody that helped make this CHIPRA grant opportunity possible, for the betterment for the children of SD.
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