1. "Get Teens Covered by Health Insurance" Kickoff a Great Success Hawaii Covering Kids and the Hawaii State Department of Education (DOE) held a news conference to launch a statewide effort to provide information on QUEST and Medicaid at all forty-two public high schools. Details on are at Go to http://www.coveringkids.com/news/Section_156.asp. 2. Matching Funds A special thank you to the Samuel N. and Mary Castle Foundation for responding favorably to our proposal to further develop the electronic application, purchase crayons to distribute with DOH's immunization coloring books, and organize community workshops. The Henry & Dorothy Castle Memorial Fund will provide $24,500 as matching funds for our statewide Hawaii Covering Kids project. 3. New Med-QUEST Application Our Application Simplification Workgroup held its last meeting on August 26 to review Kauai's pilot testing comments and information from the Office for Civil Rights. The final draft is at the printer and will be implemented by Med-QUEST beginning October 1. This successful workgroup was a public-private partnership focused on helping both eligibility workers and applicants by creating an application that is easy to fill out and complies with federal and state laws. The new simplified form will ultimately result in more complete applications arriving at Med-QUEST offices and expedite processing. 4. Room to Improve: Customer Service at Offices of the Washington Department of Social and Health Services A Covering Kids and Families site in Washington recently completed a study of local eligibility offices, called Customer Service Offices, primarily those located in King County. The work was conducted by the Children's Alliance, a statewide advocacy organization, following extensive work by a coalition workgroup to identify elements of good customer service. The report, titled "Room to Improve: Customer Service at Offices of the Washington Department of Social and Health Services, can be downloaded in PDF format by clicking here. 5. Upcoming Fairs Look for our booth at the Senior Fair on September 27, 28, and 29 at Blaisdell Exhibition Hall! We are partnering with CMS, Noridian, and Med-QUEST and our Hawaii Covering Kids outreach focus will be grandparents raising grandchildren. We will also be at Children and Youth Day 2002 at the State Capitol on October 6 along with Aloha United Way 211 to spread the word about free health insurance and the new hotline number.