BACKGROUND:
The Arizona Partnership for Immunization (TAPI) and the state VFC program work together to provide educational opportunities to immunization providers. Arizona has a large rural area that relies on VFC to immunize their childhood population. Because of the distances between providers and limited staff VFC and TAPI partnered to create regional trainings for multiple provider sites. Combining the learning needs of the VFC participants with an Arizona immunization overview was cost effective, can increase the immunization rates in rural communities and will contribute to community partnerships.

OBJECTIVE:
The objectives of the program were to provide training on immunizations delivery including:
1. VFC eligibility screening and documentation
2. Vaccine Storage and Handling
3. Arizona State Immunization Information System (ASIIS) and vaccine tracking tools
4. Customer service techniques for increasing completion rates
5. Practice benefits derived from VFC conducted CASA assessments
6. State and Federal documentation and requirements

METHOD:
A letter with registration form was sent to VFC providers with 8 locations across the state for the participant to choose from. The trainings lasted 4 hours with lunch, refreshments, materials and incentives provided. East portion of the program was delivered by a representative of each program. A post evaluation was administered.

RESULT:
At the conclusion of the 2004 program 156 participants in 110 individual provider sites attended the trainings and demonstrated proficiency with the material presented.

CONCLUSION:
The broad range of the training was especially beneficial to the rural areas that have limited access to professional development. Communication and partnerships have increased between the state health department and TAPI with the rural communities and follow up is continued. CASA visits conducted in the next several months will provide comparison data for immunization rate increase.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
1.How to engage and educate the private provider community
2.How to effectively use VFC resources