Jacksonville, Florida, January 30, 2007 -- Wolfson Children's Hospital was recently awarded a grant of $82,700 from Florida Healthy Kids Corporation for a community-based outreach program to enroll children in Florida KidCare, which provides low-cost health insurance to Florida's uninsured children. This grant will be combined with local gifts of $111,800 for this children's health care advocacy effort.

A community collaboration, led by Wolfson Children's Hospital, will embark on enrolling an additional 3,000 children in the Title XXI Florida KidCare program in Baker, Clay, Duval, Nassau and St. Johns counties through outreach and awareness activities targeting underserved children in our community. Partners include Nemours Children's Clinic, Jacksonville Children's Commission, the Jessie Ball duPont Fund, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida, the Early Learning Coalition of Duval County, JaxCare, St. Vincent's Medical Center, Northeast Florida Healthy Start Coalition and HealthEase.

According to the Florida Healthy Kids Corporation web site, as many as 10,000 children living in Northeast Florida are currently enrolled in Florida KidCare. Based on the 2004 Florida Health Insurance Study, an additional 31,000 children are potentially eligible for the program in Northeast Florida (eight percent of the state total of uninsured children).

Larry Freeman, administrator of Wolfson Children's Hospital, says, "Health insurance coverage has a significant impact on communities and families by assuring that all children have access to care, which will improve school performance and increase family security. This funding will bring greater focus and alignment to our community health initiatives, enabling us to be more proactive in our outreach efforts."