Monday, October 27, 2003 - 2:30 PM
3905

This presentation is part of A1: Immunization Registries: Getting Started 101

Challenges of Establishing a Regional Registry in Remote Rural California Counties

Liz Coe, Consultant, 766 Gailen Ct, Palo Alto, CA, USA, Ruth S. Gubernick, HLN Consulting, LLC, 5 Woodbury Drive, Cherry Hill, NJ, USA, Ayesha E. Gill, Immunization Branch, California Department of Health Services, 2151 Berkeley Way, Room 712, Berkeley, CA, USA, and John C. Schaaf, Immunization Branch / SIIS, CA Department of Health Services, 2151 Berkeley Way, Room 712, Berkeley, CA, USA.


KEYWORDS:
strategic planning; collaborative planning; rural communities; partnerships among autonomous political jurisdictions; regional agreements.

BACKGROUND:
California is developing regional registries that are designed by the regions and adapted to local needs. In 2000, the requirement for a region was a population of three million or participation by 10 counties. Regional registries were established in more populous areas of the state first, leaving a gap in the rural north. The region now being developed—with 15 counties covering 42,533 square miles with a population slightly under one million—will be the largest region (geographically and number of jurisdictions) in California. The regional planning process utilizes the experience of existing California regions and focuses on the specific conditions of these geographically large, sparsely populated counties.

OBJECTIVE:
To describe a process for providing access to an immunization registry in a remote rural area.

METHOD:
Describe challenges, resources, and the collaborative process to form the regional registry. Challenges: promoting local leadership; interaction among private and public partners at all jurisdictional levels; geographical and fiscal constraints. Major resources: participants’ interest and readiness; effective models; state software and support. Process: counties meet, discuss, and develop regional agreements and funding plans.

RESULT:
All 15 counties identified representatives to the planning process, are attending regional planning meetings (very unusual in this area of the state), and are designing the last regional registry needed to ensure registry access for all of California’s children.

CONCLUSION:
Rural communities have specific needs to address in registry planning.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
1. Describe the organizational process being used to form the regional registry.
2. Identify issues involved in deploying registries across autonomous political jurisdictions in rural areas comprising great geographical distances.

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