KEYWORDS:
Flu, Underserved

BACKGROUND:
Fairfax County, Virginia is a highly diverse community with large Latino and Korean populations. Many residents work at low-wage jobs or in small businesses without health insurance. Inova HealthSource and Congregational Health Partnership (CHP) of Inova Health System collaborated to provide flu vaccinations to populations who may not otherwise get vaccinated.

OBJECTIVE(S):
The objective of this collaboration was to reach an underserved, under-vaccinated populations - the Korean and Latino residents of Northern Virginia. In 2001, flu shots were provided at five Korean and eleven Latino churches.

METHOD(S):
CHP's Korean and Hispanic coordinators worked with churches to coordinate dates and times suitable for the congregations.
Interpreter services were arranged through the Northern Virginia AHEC for the Korean congregations so that each recipient of the flu vaccination was fully informed about the vaccination. CHP's Korean coordinator answered questions and faclitated. Translated VISs were available for participants.
Bilingual (English-Spanish) nurses were assigned to the Latino congregations. The nurse and CHP's Latina coordinator provided translation and answered questions. Consent forms in Spanish were provided.
Indigent clients were identified ahead of time and given free flu shot certificates (vouchers).

RESULT(S):
To date, 651 people in these sixteen congregations have been vaccinated. 110 were Medicare beneficiaries and 103 were medically indigent. This represents a six-fold increase from the number in these populations who were vaccinated in 2000.

CONCLUSIONS(S):
This partnership between Inova HealthSource and Congregational Health Partnership increased access to vaccination services for underserved and under-vaccinated populations. Bilingual staff helped facilitate paperwork and ensure that participants understood the vaccination process.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
At the conclusion of this session, participants will describe a successful model of collaboration that can increase vaccination rates in underserved and under-vaccinated populations.