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You are here: Home > Press Releases > Grants, Immunization Clinics

For Immediate Release Thursday, December 16, 2004

PUBLIC HEALTH GRANTS FUND NEW KINDS OF IMMUNIZATION CLINICS

DENVER – Public health agencies across Colorado will be taking new, unique approaches to organizing immunization clinics in an attempt to reach children who aren’t being fully immunized.
The agencies are among 22 that have been awarded $344,170 in grants by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

The grant awards are based on proposals submitted by the public health entities for scheduling immunization clinics at locations and at hours different than those of traditional clinics. As part of the grant proposals, the agencies also were required to establish new community partnerships to widen the scope of the immunization efforts.

The grants are being awarded from state immunization funds awarded to the department for the current fiscal year by the Colorado Legislature and approved by Governor Bill Owens.
Douglas H. Benevento, the department’s executive director, said, “The department, in partnership with public health agencies and other interested organizations, is involved in an all out effort to make certain that many more Colorado children are fully immunized.

Through this grant process, the department encouraged local health departments and county public health nursing services to schedule immunization clinics at times and places that are more convenient for parents and children and to make these community efforts.”

The state health director continued, “It is vitally important that the health of the state’s children be protected by making certain as many as possible have received all of the immunizations necessary to protect them from the childhood diseases that cause them to be seriously ill and that, in rare instances, can even result in death.

“It is not acceptable that Colorado is ranked 50th among states for the number of children who are fully immunized by the time they reach the age of 2. We are doing everything we can to change that.”

The grant recipients are:

• Alamosa County Nursing Service, Alamosa, $13,045. The grant will be used to develop immunization clinics that will be offered at locations throughout Alamosa County, including at three elementary schools; the Migrant Head Start headquarters; day-care centers; and at the local offices of the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program. The local public health nursing staff will be assisted at the clinics by school nurses; teachers; and by health aides and administrative personnel at the Migrant Head Start. Contact: Alamosa County Nursing Service, 1-719-589-6639.

• Chaffee County Public Health Nursing Service, Salida, $36,000. The Chaffee County Public Health Care-A-Van will be used to hold immunization clinics at various busy community locations in Chaffee County, including at Wal-Mart; Head Start classes; parks; trailer parks; and low-income housing complexes. The clinics will be a partnership involving public health staff and staff from local preschools; day-care facilities; ChildFind; adult English as a second language teachers; and area primary care physicians. Contact: Kristine Reimer, public health supervisor, 1-719-539-4510.

• Clear Creek County Public Health Nursing Service, Idaho Springs, $3,665. Immunization clinics will be held at the Clear Creek County Recreational Center, which is widely used by local residents. In addition to the county public health nursing service staff, staff from eight local agencies will assist in the outreach to parents to get their children immunized. Involved in the project will be Clear Creek Montessori; Carlson Elementary School; Empire Head Start Program; Clear Creek County Early Childhood Connections; the recreational center; Children and Youth Provider Coalition; Bearly Tawl Daycare Center; and in-home day-care facilities in Idaho Springs. Contact: Sharon Donnelly, public health nurse, (303) 567-3145.

• Conejos County Public Health Nursing Service, Antonito, $12,399. Immunization clinics will be held at local elementary schools. Public health nursing service staff will be assisted by volunteers from local high schools; Seniors Inc., and faith-based programs in the community. Contact: Connie Edgar, nursing service director, 1-719-274-4307, Ext. 236.

• Costilla County Public Health Nursing Service, San Luis, $12,168: Immunization clinics will be held at the community recreation center in San Luis. To organize, advertise and staff the clinics, the public health nursing service staff will collaborate with the recreation center staff members, who speak English and Spanish; graduate nurses from Regis University; and the Nurse Family Partnership Program. Contact: Vivian Gallegos, nursing service director, 1-719-672-3332.

• Delta County Health Department, Delta, $9,620. Immunization clinics will be held at the Hotchkiss Annex Building in Hotchkiss, which is centrally located in an area shown to have a large number of children under 5 years of age living under the poverty level. Health department staff will recruit local Women, Infants and Children (WIC) staff to review the immunization status of children and to schedule appointments at clinic sites as needed. Contact: Kelly Beard, immunization and epidemiology nurse, 1-970-874-2165.

• Denver Health, Denver, $43,171. Utilizing outreach sites that are readily available to parents with infants and young children, funds will be used to conduct community clinics at three Denver Public Schools sites on a scheduled basis during the school year as well as to conduct weekly immunization outreach clinics alternating between two Denver WIC sites. Denver Public Schools nursing staff; WIC clerks; and Denver Health community health workers will market the availability of the clinics; act as the parent point-of-contact; and manage clinic flow. Contact: Tony Encinias, public information officer, (303) 436-5401.

• Elbert County Public Health Nursing Service, Kiowa, $8,443. Immunization clinics will be offered in the towns of Elizabeth and Simla in Elbert County. Members of the community and students from local work-study programs will assist with the clinics. Contact: Ingrid Betts, nursing service director, (303) 621-3144.

• Jefferson County Health Department, Lakewood, $7,895. Clinics will be held at two locations that are located in or adjacent to low-income areas of the county. At the clinics, health department staff members will be assisted by members of the WIC program education staff and volunteers from local Kiwanis clubs. Contact: Nancy Braden, public information officer, (303) 239-7137.

• Kit Carson County Public Health Nursing Service, Burlington, $16,541. Immunization clinics will be held at the Stratton Medical Clinic in Stratton and at the Flagler Congregational Church in Flagler. Contact: Teresa Penny, nursing service program support staff, 1-719-346-7158.

• Las Animas-Huerfano Health Department, Trinidad and Walsenburg, $4,582. Immunization clinics will be held at local elementary schools in Trinidad and Walsenburg where parents are delivering older siblings to school. Many of the local Head Start programs are consolidated within the public school system. Contact: Cathy Montera, nursing supervisor, 1-719-846-2213.

• Mesa County Health Department, Grand Junction, $14,297. Immunization clinics will be offered at two locations in Mesa County, which have been identified as having the highest number of low-income families with children under the age of 5. Health department staff will work with community members and Mesa State College nursing students to operate the clinics. Contact: Kristy Westerman, public information officer, 1-970-248-6964.

• Montezuma County Health Department, Cortez, $11,930. Clinics will be held at four different low-income housing sites in Montezuma County. Members of the health department staff will work with staff from the housing facilities and parents living there to organize and conduct the clinics. Contact: Opal Stalker, public health nurse, 1-970-565-3056, Ext. 231.

• Northeast Colorado Health Department, serving Logan, Morgan, Phillips, Sedgwick, Washington and Yuma counties, $8,150. Evening immunization clinics will be offered at Northeast Colorado Health Department locations in each county served. The health department will collaborate with the Rotary Club; Lions Club; the local Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES); the Fort Morgan Fire Department; and the Fort Morgan Police Department. Contact: Deanna Herbert, public information officer, 1-970-522-3741, Ext. 237.

• Northwest Colorado Visiting Nurse Association, serving Moffat and Routt counties, $10,530. Immunization clinics will be held at the Moffat County School Administration in Craig. Students from Colorado Northwestern Community College and Moffat County High School will assist with the facilitation of the clinics. Contact: Sue Birch, director, 1-970-879-1632.

• Park County Public Health Nursing Service, $9,033. Immunization clinics will be held at four locations throughout Park County, including in Bailey, Fairplay, Guffey and Lake George. The specific locations were selected because of their easy access, familiarity to the community, child-friendly atmosphere, and the fact that they are in areas of the county with a larger proportion of low-income families. On the days of the clinics, a babysitting service will be offered from 4-8 p.m. at each location by local 4-H youth as their community service project. Contact: Lynn Ramey, public health nurse, (303) 816-5970.

• Prowers County Public Health Nursing Service, Lamar, $12,550. Immunization clinics will be held in the Lamar Community Building. Public health volunteers will be utilized as well as Colorado State Patrol officers who will do car seat checks in the parking lot. The Lions and Elks Clubs will donate to this project as well. Contact: Jackie Brown, director, 1-719-336-8721.

• Pueblo City-County Health Department, Pueblo, $38,111. Immunization clinics will be held regularly on Saturdays at the Southwest Medical Clinic, a clinic that is located between two pockets of needs identified in the Pueblo West area. Also, Saturday is a time in Pueblo when immunizations traditionally are unavailable. Staff from the health department and the Southwest Medical Clinic will partner with volunteers from the Pueblo community immunization group, made up of 12 different agencies, and with teens from local high schools to conduct the clinics. Contact: Sarah Bruestle, public information officer, 1-719-583-4526.

• Rio Grande County Public Health, Monte Vista, $6,831. Immunization clinics will be held at the Church of Christ in Monte Vista, which is located in a northeast section of town where many low-income housing units are located and which has been identified as a pocket-of-need area. The local public health staff is exploring opportunities for obtaining the services of volunteers from the Early Childhood Council to assist with the clinics. Contact: Pat Perry, director, 1-719-657-3352.

• San Juan Basin Health Department, serving Archuleta and La Plata Juan counties in southwestern Colorado, $6,963. Immunization clinics will be held at the Head Start building in Ignacio. Volunteers will include Head Start staff and Rotary Club members. Contact: Danni Lorrigan, public information officer, 1-970-247-5702, Ext. 1744.

• Tri-County Health Department, serving Adams, Arapahoe and Douglas counties in the Denver metropolitan area, $42,687. The grant will be used to provide additional funding for the Aurora Project monthly immunization clinics that already are underway and are being conducted in a partnership involving the health department; the Aurora Fire Department; and the Colorado Children’s Immunization Coalition. Since 2003, the monthly clinics have been held on Saturdays at a fire station in an area of Aurora where immunization rates are low. Fire department paramedics have been trained to provide the immunizations. Employees of the coalition’s Aurora Project and members of the new Aurora Rotary Club also assist with the clinics. Contact: Gary Sky, health department public information officer, (303) 846-6245.

• Weld County Health Department, Greeley, $15,557. Immunization outreach clinics will be held in the parking lot of the Greeley Wal-Mart. Staff from the health department will be assisted by volunteers from the Weld County Children’s Immunization Coalition and by University of Northern Colorado nursing students. Contact: Gaye Morrison, public information officer, 1-970-304-6429, Ext. 2380.

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