New health board to focus on immunizations

Officials are expected to hold the first meeting of the Carson City Board of Health on Thursday, establishing a new district to focus on health problems facing city residents.

The board will also consider its first decision - whether to hire a full-time coordinator to organize immunization programs.

"One of the issues during our quest to become a health authority was immunizations," said Daren Winkelman, city environmental health department director.

The health board will decide whether to accept a $140,500 grant offered by the state Department of Human Resources, Health Division to hire the coordinator and pay for equipment and program costs. Part of the money would buy a refrigerator to keep vaccines at a safe temperature.

Currently, the city has many private immunization providers and a community health clinic to administer shots to children.

The new coordinator would study what is offered citywide to determine whether access to getting vaccines is a problem and, if so, how to remedy the situation, Winkelman said.

According to Nevada KIDS COUNT 2003 county profile, 59.9 percent of Carson City residents were up-to-date with vaccinations. Nevada as a whole had 64.1 percent.

"We want to try to begin coordination between providers and the program, so that everybody's working on the same page," Winkelman said.

The coordinator's work might also include researching what type of database is available to track children who get immunizations and follow through with community outreach, he said.

The grant will pay for an 18 month program.

Another action the board is expected to decide is whether to accept a $40,000 grant from the state health division to continue the development of a plan to integrate HIV prevention activities into the city's public health service system.

Contact Jill Lufrano at jlufrano@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1217.