Location |
819 19th Street, Sacramento CA 95811 |
Toll Free |
1 (866) 850-4321 |
Phone |
(916) 414-8333 |
[email protected] |
Web |
http://www.sacramentocovered.org/ |
Chief Executive Officer |
Kelly Bennett |
Founder |
Mayor Joe Serna, Jr. |
Established |
1998 |
Sacramento Covered, formerly Cover the Kids, is a non-profit (501)c3 organization. Its mission is to improve the health and well-being of families, children and adults in the Sacramento region by connecting them to health coverage, primary and preventative care, behavioral health services, and other community resources. All services are free and provided in multiple languages.
Sacramento Covered services include helping people to:
-
Enroll for health, dental, and nutrition coverage
-
Find a doctor and dentist
-
Schedule health appointments
-
Arrange transportation to health appointments
-
Arrange language interpretation
-
And connect to other health-related resources
Sacramento Covered operates from their main administrative building in Midtown, Sacramento and has multiple sites in the community to help people nearest their neighborhood and workplace, including in:
- Community Centers
- Clinics
- WIC Offices
- Career Centers
- Schools
You can find all locations here at SacramentoCovered.org/Contact-Us
Programs
Sacramento Covered has three main programs - Health Navigator program, Patient Navigator program, and Community Health Worker program. All provide one-on-one, culturally competent services to help people mitigate barriers to accessing health care services in the Sacramento region.
Health Navigators work closely with families and individuals to help them explore their healthcare options; sign up for affordable health, dental, and nutrition coverage; find a doctor/dentist that accepts their insurance; schedule their medical appointments; address specific health barriers like transportation, car seats and language interpretation; and connect to other needed services in the community. Health Navigators also provide education and support to guide families and individuals with navigating the difficult healthcare delivery system once they've accessed it. Health Navigators can be found at Sacramento Covered sites and at many community events throughout the region.
Patient Navigators for Sacramento Covered work directly in hospital emergency departments (ED) to help ED patients establish a primary care home for all their health needs, with the goal to help them stay healthy and reduce their chances of readmission. Patient Navigators provide thorough follow-up with each patient to ensure recovery and work closely with health plans, primary care physicians, specialists, nurses and clinics to help address social and medical needs for improved care coordination.
As a leading partner of the City of Sacramento's Pathways to Health + Home program, Sacramento Covered's team of Community Health Workers provide individuals experiencing homelessness with intensive outreach engagement and care coordination services to ensure they receive the wraparound services they need for ongoing care and stability. Community Health Workers connect individuals in the program to primary health and behavioral health services, alleviate barriers like transportation, provide advocacy and comprehensive follow-up, and assist with connecting to needed services like housing, DMV assistance, social security and others. They serve in various environments (including homeless encampments, street outreach, home visits, and shelters) and work closely with primary care clinics, behavioral health clinics and programs, hospitals, housing agencies, law enforcement, and other services to ensure that health and social determinants of health are met for each individualized case.
Process to receive services from Sacramento Covered
-
Make a phone call or email [email protected]
-
Talk to a Health Navigator
-
A Health Navigator will personally help you at a community site location nearest you
Documents you need if you are enrolling for health coverage
- Photo ID
- Proof of Address (for example: a utility bill, rental agreement, etc.)
- Proof of citizenship or immigration status showing you are “lawfully present” (for example: naturalization certificate, green card, employment authorization, etc.)
- Proof of income: Federal tax information from your most recently filed tax return. Bring all pages in the packet, especially Schedule C if you are self-employed or have income that’s not from wages
- Social security number and date of birth for all tax dependents/household members (even if they’re not applying for health insurance)
Volunteering
The program is always open for volunteers and interns who are interested in learning more about the services Sacramento Covered provides for families and individuals.
Volunteers help with basic information to assist with client follow-up phone calls. This is to help collect data on children who are enrolled in a health programs and those who are not.
Volunteers also help with various jobs at one-day events to reach families with uninsured children. They also assist at those events by facilitating children's activities, childcare, staffing a registration table or an information table and also make copies for the families.
References
images provided by Catalyst Center and Sackids
Personal Interview with Joil Xiong, Program Manager.
Comments
This report was written for Cynthia Linville’s English 1Aclass at CSU Sacramento Fall 2011.
Edited in 2019.