APhA names 2015 Immunization Champions

Abstract

The APhA Immunization Champion Awards recognize individuals and organizations in the pharmacy profession, and friends and allies of pharmacy, who have made outstanding efforts to improve vaccination rates within their communities. The APhA Immunization Champion Awards recognize individuals and organizations in the pharmacy profession, and friends and allies of pharmacy, who have made outstanding efforts to improve vaccination rates within their communities. Outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases in recent months and years serve as a reminder that public health needs pharmacists on the immunization team now more than ever. As trusted health care providers and counselors to the members of their communities, pharmacists have the capacity to touch patients who may fall outside of the reach of all other health care providers. Through this access, pharmacists can provide patients with credible information and the immunizations they need to protect against preventable diseases.The winners of this year's Immunization Champion Awards have taken their role as immunizers and advocates beyond their community pharmacies and into rural areas, homeless shelters, and the halls of government. They've pushed for the passage of legislation to expand pharmacists' scope of practice as immunizers. They've designed and improved on technology to give pharmacists and patients access to thorough and up-to-the-minute immunization records.Winners have made themselves living vaccine resources for their colleagues across the allied health professions. They've volunteered countless hours to get vaccines to those who lack access. They've formed invaluable partnerships with government agencies, nonprofit organizations, universities, and their colleagues in other health professions to further their mission of eliminating vaccine-preventable diseases.Individual PractitionerUndaunted by these challenges, Aguwa takes immunizations beyond the pharmacy to the places his patients live and work. He has reached out to schools, businesses, and senior centers to provide vaccine education. Local nursing homes turn to Aguwa as a reliable source of up-to-date vaccine recommendations. He coordinated the first-ever onsite immunization clinic for teachers and students in four local school districts.Knowing that many community residents work in manufacturing and in the hotel industry, Aguwa coordinated immunization clinics at one of the area's largest manufacturing facilities and at a local hotel. In the state that has the fourth-highest rate of parents refusing vaccines for their children, Aguwa has increased vaccination rates at his store. Kenneth McCall, PharmD, was instrumental in helping Maine become the 50th state to authorize pharmacists to administer vaccines in 2009. McCall knew, however, that legislation alone wasn't enough. He coordinated events to raise public awareness of pharmacists' new role as immunizers. Next, as chair of the Department of Pharmacy Practice at New England University College of Medicine, he began to train pharmacists to take on this new role. He leads multiple 20-hour immunization training programs for pharmacists every year.In 2012, he advocated to expand pharmacists' scope of practice through legislation that would allow them to provide all CDC-recommended adult vaccinations. He further expanded the pool of immunizers in his state by coauthoring legislation that defined the scope of practice of pharmacy interns to include supervised vaccine administration. Under his supervision, pharmacy students administer more than 2,000 vaccines every year to veterans.McCall has developed innovative programs to increase vaccination rates. The partnership he built between Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center and the Amarillo Veterans Affairs Health Care System helped pharmacists and pharmacy students bring influenza immunizations to veterans' spouses.Friend of PharmacyIn his role as Executive Director of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) in Arlington, VA, Paul Jarris, MD, builds bridges between state health agencies and pharmacies. He believes pharmacists can play a larger role in improving public health, which includes immunizations.Recognizing the barriers to pharmacists have the fullest impact on public health, Jarris met with America's Health Insurance Plans to discuss provider status and immunization coverage. Under his direction, ASTHO released a guidance document on how public health agencies could partner with pharmacies on the administration of the 2009 H1N1 vaccine. The guidance led to a stronger partnership between pharmacy and public health in immunization efforts. Pharmacists administer vaccines under protocols with public health, conduct community surveillance, report to immunization registries with increased frequency, and receive referrals from public health departments. ASTHO has since created advisory committees that include pharmacists on topics such as nonphysician immunizers and public health and pharmacy partnerships to distribute pandemic vaccines.Corporation/InstitutionIn the past year, Walgreens Corporation has rolled out new efforts and continued existing efforts to improve vaccination rates in the United States and the developing world. Walgreens launched the largest centralized pharmacy cloud-based electronic health record (EHR) system ever deployed, Walgreens Cloud EHR. The platform gives pharmacists a real-time view of patients' immunizations to ensure optimum counseling. Walgreens' smart phone app puts patients' immunization records in their hands to facilitate discussions with physicians and other health care providers.Last year, 1,500 Walgreens pharmacies became Travel Centers of Excellence that offer comprehensive travel health consultations to patients. The corporation's partnership with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs allowed Walgreens to improve veterans' access to influenza immunizations and other CDC-recommended vaccines. Through a partnership with the U.N. Foundation, Walgreens donated three million vaccines for polio and measles to children in Tanzania.Walgreens is currently working with Medicare and other payers to advocate for expanding beneficiary vaccine coverage to reflect new recommendations for pneumococcal vaccines for adults aged 65 years and older.PartnershipFriends and colleagues of Garth Reynolds, BSPharm, have called him a walking immunization resource. The Executive Director of the Illinois Pharmacists Association is faster and more thorough than Google, they say, when it comes to delivering evidence- based vaccine information. Perhaps it comes from a lifetime in pharmacy. As a child, he worked with his parents in their small community pharmacy in southern Illinois. As a young man, he attended state and national pharmacy meetings with his parents.Today, Reynolds capitalizes on his role with the state pharmacists' association to promote vaccines and pharmacists as immunizers. He has launched letter-to-the-editor campaigns and made television appearances to support legislation to expand pharmacists' scope of practice as immunizers. He has built bridges between the state pharmacists' association and nursing, pediatrics, and other medical groups to further the role of pharmacists on the immunization team. His presentations for state and county public health departments have advanced pharmacists' capacity for collaboration with public health to improve vaccination rates.Honorable Mentions• Individual Practitioner: Mary Choy, Brandi Shuyler, Maria Young•Corporation or Institution: HEB Pharmacy•Community Outreach: James McCabeCommunity OutreachAn MBA student and a pharmacist at Walgreens in Lansdale, PA, Mayank Amin, PharmD, manages to volunteer up to 40 hours a week of his time to ensure that everyone learns the importance of immunizations and of maintaining immunization records. He makes sure that everyone who wants vaccines gets them regardless of their ability to pay.Through BAPS Charities, an international service organization, Amin conceived and launched the annual Children's Health and Safety Day in Lansdale, PA, in 2011. Today, the health fair takes place at centers around the country. Amin manages the fairs at 25 of those centers, which reach more than 10,000 families. To increase the fair's capacity to provide vaccine education, Amin has partnered with pharmacy schools that send their students to Children's Health and Safety Day to counsel attendees. Michelle Obama's Let's Move campaign has recognized the health fair. The National Institute of Health's We Can program uses Children's Health and Safety Day as a model.Through BAPS, Amin has advocated for vaccination drives that have reached more than 15,000 people. When charitable donations of vaccines for these drives ran out, Amin persuaded Wal- greens to begin offering immunizations free of charge to people without insurances.Pharmacy Team MemberLouis Jimenez is a pharmacist technician and assistant manager at Wal- greens in Chandler, AZ. Recognizing the needs of patients who may never walk through the doors of Walgreens, Jimenez created a partnership between his store and the local charitable organization St. Vincent de Paul Society. The charity's mission is to help feed, clothe, and house members of the state's indigent population. Jimenez saw a place for pharmacy in this mission.Through the relationship Jimenez forged, he and his pharmacy team provided 50 free health screenings, which included blood pressure, cholesterol, body mass index and glucose readings, and 200 free influenza immunizations. Outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases in recent months and years serve as a reminder that public health needs pharmacists on the immunization team now more than ever. As trusted health care providers and counselors to the members of their communities, pharmacists have the capacity to touch patients who may fall outside of the reach of all other health care providers. Through this access, pharmacists can provide patients with credible information and the immunizations they need to protect against preventable diseases. The winners of this year's Immunization Champion Awards have taken their role as immunizers and advocates beyond their community pharmacies and into rural areas, homeless shelters, and the halls of government. They've pushed for the passage of legislation to expand pharmacists' scope of practice as immunizers. They've designed and improved on technology to give pharmacists and patients access to thorough and up-to-the-minute immunization records. Winners have made themselves living vaccine resources for their colleagues across the allied health professions. They've volunteered countless hours to get vaccines to those who lack access. They've formed invaluable partnerships with government agencies, nonprofit organizations, universities, and their colleagues in other health professions to further their mission of eliminating vaccine-preventable diseases. Individual PractitionerUndaunted by these challenges, Aguwa takes immunizations beyond the pharmacy to the places his patients live and work. He has reached out to schools, businesses, and senior centers to provide vaccine education. Local nursing homes turn to Aguwa as a reliable source of up-to-date vaccine recommendations. He coordinated the first-ever onsite immunization clinic for teachers and students in four local school districts.Knowing that many community residents work in manufacturing and in the hotel industry, Aguwa coordinated immunization clinics at one of the area's largest manufacturing facilities and at a local hotel. In the state that has the fourth-highest rate of parents refusing vaccines for their children, Aguwa has increased vaccination rates at his store. Kenneth McCall, PharmD, was instrumental in helping Maine become the 50th state to authorize pharmacists to administer vaccines in 2009. McCall knew, however, that legislation alone wasn't enough. He coordinated events to raise public awareness of pharmacists' new role as immunizers. Next, as chair of the Department of Pharmacy Practice at New England University College of Medicine, he began to train pharmacists to take on this new role. He leads multiple 20-hour immunization training programs for pharmacists every year.In 2012, he advocated to expand pharmacists' scope of practice through legislation that would allow them to provide all CDC-recommended adult vaccinations. He further expanded the pool of immunizers in his state by coauthoring legislation that defined the scope of practice of pharmacy interns to include supervised vaccine administration. Under his supervision, pharmacy students administer more than 2,000 vaccines every year to veterans.McCall has developed innovative programs to increase vaccination rates. The partnership he built between Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center and the Amarillo Veterans Affairs Health Care System helped pharmacists and pharmacy students bring influenza immunizations to veterans' spouses. Undaunted by these challenges, Aguwa takes immunizations beyond the pharmacy to the places his patients live and work. He has reached out to schools, businesses, and senior centers to provide vaccine education. Local nursing homes turn to Aguwa as a reliable source of up-to-date vaccine recommendations. He coordinated the first-ever onsite immunization clinic for teachers and students in four local school districts. Knowing that many community residents work in manufacturing and in the hotel industry, Aguwa coordinated immunization clinics at one of the area's largest manufacturing facilities and at a local hotel. In the state that has the fourth-highest rate of parents refusing vaccines for their children, Aguwa has increased vaccination rates at his store. Kenneth McCall, PharmD, was instrumental in helping Maine become the 50th state to authorize pharmacists to administer vaccines in 2009. McCall knew, however, that legislation alone wasn't enough. He coordinated events to raise public awareness of pharmacists' new role as immunizers. Next, as chair of the Department of Pharmacy Practice at New England University College of Medicine, he began to train pharmacists to take on this new role. He leads multiple 20-hour immunization training programs for pharmacists every year. In 2012, he advocated to expand pharmacists' scope of practice through legislation that would allow them to provide all CDC-recommended adult vaccinations. He further expanded the pool of immunizers in his state by coauthoring legislation that defined the scope of practice of pharmacy interns to include supervised vaccine administration. Under his supervision, pharmacy students administer more than 2,000 vaccines every year to veterans. McCall has developed innovative programs to increase vaccination rates. The partnership he built between Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center and the Amarillo Veterans Affairs Health Care System helped pharmacists and pharmacy students bring influenza immunizations to veterans' spouses. Friend of PharmacyIn his role as Executive Director of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) in Arlington, VA, Paul Jarris, MD, builds bridges between state health agencies and pharmacies. He believes pharmacists can play a larger role in improving public health, which includes immunizations.Recognizing the barriers to pharmacists have the fullest impact on public health, Jarris met with America's Health Insurance Plans to discuss provider status and immunization coverage. Under his direction, ASTHO released a guidance document on how public health agencies could partner with pharmacies on the administration of the 2009 H1N1 vaccine. The guidance led to a stronger partnership between pharmacy and public health in immunization efforts. Pharmacists administer vaccines under protocols with public health, conduct community surveillance, report to immunization registries with increased frequency, and receive referrals from public health departments. ASTHO has since created advisory committees that include pharmacists on topics such as nonphysician immunizers and public health and pharmacy partnerships to distribute pandemic vaccines. In his role as Executive Director of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) in Arlington, VA, Paul Jarris, MD, builds bridges between state health agencies and pharmacies. He believes pharmacists can play a larger role in improving public health, which includes immunizations. Recognizing the barriers to pharmacists have the fullest impact on public health, Jarris met with America's Health Insurance Plans to discuss provider status and immunization coverage. Under his direction, ASTHO released a guidance document on how public health agencies could partner with pharmacies on the administration of the 2009 H1N1 vaccine. The guidance led to a stronger partnership between pharmacy and public health in immunization efforts. Pharmacists administer vaccines under protocols with public health, conduct community surveillance, report to immunization registries with increased frequency, and receive referrals from public health departments. ASTHO has since created advisory committees that include pharmacists on topics such as nonphysician immunizers and public health and pharmacy partnerships to distribute pandemic vaccines. Corporation/InstitutionIn the past year, Walgreens Corporation has rolled out new efforts and continued existing efforts to improve vaccination rates in the United States and the developing world. Walgreens launched the largest centralized pharmacy cloud-based electronic health record (EHR) system ever deployed, Walgreens Cloud EHR. The platform gives pharmacists a real-time view of patients' immunizations to ensure optimum counseling. Walgreens' smart phone app puts patients' immunization records in their hands to facilitate discussions with physicians and other health care providers.Last year, 1,500 Walgreens pharmacies became Travel Centers of Excellence that offer comprehensive travel health consultations to patients. The corporation's partnership with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs allowed Walgreens to improve veterans' access to influenza immunizations and other CDC-recommended vaccines. Through a partnership with the U.N. Foundation, Walgreens donated three million vaccines for polio and measles to children in Tanzania.Walgreens is currently working with Medicare and other payers to advocate for expanding beneficiary vaccine coverage to reflect new recommendations for pneumococcal vaccines for adults aged 65 years and older. In the past year, Walgreens Corporation has rolled out new efforts and continued existing efforts to improve vaccination rates in the United States and the developing world. Walgreens launched the largest centralized pharmacy cloud-based electronic health record (EHR) system ever deployed, Walgreens Cloud EHR. The platform gives pharmacists a real-time view of patients' immunizations to ensure optimum counseling. Walgreens' smart phone app puts patients' immunization records in their hands to facilitate discussions with physicians and other health care providers. Last year, 1,500 Walgreens pharmacies became Travel Centers of Excellence that offer comprehensive travel health consultations to patients. The corporation's partnership with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs allowed Walgreens to improve veterans' access to influenza immunizations and other CDC-recommended vaccines. Through a partnership with the U.N. Foundation, Walgreens donated three million vaccines for polio and measles to children in Tanzania. Walgreens is currently working with Medicare and other payers to advocate for expanding beneficiary vaccine coverage to reflect new recommendations for pneumococcal vaccines for adults aged 65 years and older. PartnershipFriends and colleagues of Garth Reynolds, BSPharm, have called him a walking immunization resource. The Executive Director of the Illinois Pharmacists Association is faster and more thorough than Google, they say, when it comes to delivering evidence- based vaccine information. Perhaps it comes from a lifetime in pharmacy. As a child, he worked with his parents in their small community pharmacy in southern Illinois. As a young man, he attended state and national pharmacy meetings with his parents.Today, Reynolds capitalizes on his role with the state pharmacists' association to promote vaccines and pharmacists as immunizers. He has launched letter-to-the-editor campaigns and made television appearances to support legislation to expand pharmacists' scope of practice as immunizers. He has built bridges between the state pharmacists' association and nursing, pediatrics, and other medical groups to further the role of pharmacists on the immunization team. His presentations for state and county public health departments have advanced pharmacists' capacity for collaboration with public health to improve vaccination rates.Honorable Mentions• Individual Practitioner: Mary Choy, Brandi Shuyler, Maria Young•Corporation or Institution: HEB Pharmacy•Community Outreach: James McCabe Friends and colleagues of Garth Reynolds, BSPharm, have called him a walking immunization resource. The Executive Director of the Illinois Pharmacists Association is faster and more thorough than Google, they say, when it comes to delivering evidence- based vaccine information. Perhaps it comes from a lifetime in pharmacy. As a child, he worked with his parents in their small community pharmacy in southern Illinois. As a young man, he attended state and national pharmacy meetings with his parents. Today, Reynolds capitalizes on his role with the state pharmacists' association to promote vaccines and pharmacists as immunizers. He has launched letter-to-the-editor campaigns and made television appearances to support legislation to expand pharmacists' scope of practice as immunizers. He has built bridges between the state pharmacists' association and nursing, pediatrics, and other medical groups to further the role of pharmacists on the immunization team. His presentations for state and county public health departments have advanced pharmacists' capacity for collaboration with public health to improve vaccination rates.Honorable Mentions• Individual Practitioner: Mary Choy, Brandi Shuyler, Maria Young•Corporation or Institution: HEB Pharmacy•Community Outreach: James McCabe Honorable Mentions• Individual Practitioner: Mary Choy, Brandi Shuyler, Maria Young•Corporation or Institution: HEB Pharmacy•Community Outreach: James McCabe Honorable Mentions• Individual Practitioner: Mary Choy, Brandi Shuyler, Maria Young•Corporation or Institution: HEB Pharmacy•Community Outreach: James McCabe • Individual Practitioner: Mary Choy, Brandi Shuyler, Maria Young•Corporation or Institution: HEB Pharmacy•Community Outreach: James McCabe Community OutreachAn MBA student and a pharmacist at Walgreens in Lansdale, PA, Mayank Amin, PharmD, manages to volunteer up to 40 hours a week of his time to ensure that everyone learns the importance of immunizations and of maintaining immunization records. He makes sure that everyone who wants vaccines gets them regardless of their ability to pay.Through BAPS Charities, an international service organization, Amin conceived and launched the annual Children's Health and Safety Day in Lansdale, PA, in 2011. Today, the health fair takes place at centers around the country. Amin manages the fairs at 25 of those centers, which reach more than 10,000 families. To increase the fair's capacity to provide vaccine education, Amin has partnered with pharmacy schools that send their students to Children's Health and Safety Day to counsel attendees. Michelle Obama's Let's Move campaign has recognized the health fair. The National Institute of Health's We Can program uses Children's Health and Safety Day as a model.Through BAPS, Amin has advocated for vaccination drives that have reached more than 15,000 people. When charitable donations of vaccines for these drives ran out, Amin persuaded Wal- greens to begin offering immunizations free of charge to people without insurances. An MBA student and a pharmacist at Walgreens in Lansdale, PA, Mayank Amin, PharmD, manages to volunteer up to 40 hours a week of his time to ensure that everyone learns the importance of immunizations and of maintaining immunization records. He makes sure that everyone who wants vaccines gets them regardless of their ability to pay. Through BAPS Charities, an international service organization, Amin conceived and launched the annual Children's Health and Safety Day in Lansdale, PA, in 2011. Today, the health fair takes place at centers around the country. Amin manages the fairs at 25 of those centers, which reach more than 10,000 families. To increase the fair's capacity to provide vaccine education, Amin has partnered with pharmacy schools that send their students to Children's Health and Safety Day to counsel attendees. Michelle Obama's Let's Move campaign has recognized the health fair. The National Institute of Health's We Can program uses Children's Health and Safety Day as a model. Through BAPS, Amin has advocated for vaccination drives that have reached more than 15,000 people. When charitable donations of vaccines for these drives ran out, Amin persuaded Wal- greens to begin offering immunizations free of charge to people without insurances. Pharmacy Team MemberLouis Jimenez is a pharmacist technician and assistant manager at Wal- greens in Chandler, AZ. Recognizing the needs of patients who may never walk through the doors of Walgreens, Jimenez created a partnership between his store and the local charitable organization St. Vincent de Paul Society. The charity's mission is to help feed, clothe, and house members of the state's indigent population. Jimenez saw a place for pharmacy in this mission.Through the relationship Jimenez forged, he and his pharmacy team provided 50 free health screenings, which included blood pressure, cholesterol, body mass index and glucose readings, and 200 free influenza immunizations. Louis Jimenez is a pharmacist technician and assistant manager at Wal- greens in Chandler, AZ. Recognizing the needs of patients who may never walk through the doors of Walgreens, Jimenez created a partnership between his store and the local charitable organization St. Vincent de Paul Society. The charity's mission is to help feed, clothe, and house members of the state's indigent population. Jimenez saw a place for pharmacy in this mission. Through the relationship Jimenez forged, he and his pharmacy team provided 50 free health screenings, which included blood pressure, cholesterol, body mass index and glucose readings, and 200 free influenza immunizations.