August is National Immunization Awareness Month (NIAM). NIAM raises the awareness about why vaccines are important for people of all ages and how they can help prevent serious, sometimes deadly, diseases and illnesses. During NIAM, Great Plains QIN will be sharing resources and spotlighting healthcare providers and their efforts to highlight the importance of vaccines.
We recently connected with Dawn Birkeland, LPN, the assistant director of nursing and infection preventionist with Bethel Lutheran Home and Rehabilitation Center in Willison, ND. Birkeland was recently invited to attend the Vaccine Access Cooperative (VAC) for Adult Immunizations Frontier/Heartlands Region Meeting of the Association of Immunization Managers (AIM), which includes the states of North and South Dakota. This meeting is an opportunity to share best practices and lessons learned with improving adult immunizations in addition to individual states developing action plans to address adult immunizations in their states.
“My role is to provide education to our staff, residents and families in regards to our Immunization/Vaccine Program offered. I work closely with our medical director and pharmacist to ensure vaccines are available. I then coordinate with our nursing staff to assess and administer all vaccines to our residents and staff accordingly,” Birkeland shared.
She continued, “My administrator called me up one day and told me of this opportunity to attend the VAC Meeting. I was delighted to attend. The invite was extended to Bethel Lutheran Home based on the high vaccination rate we were able to achieve after initial resistance to the COVID-19 vaccine.
As we approach August and NIAM, we will begin our immunization education at Resident Council Meetings and also our all staff meetings. We will remind our teams that it is time to start thinking about fall vaccines and what that will look like this year for our facility.
Attending a meeting of this type is so valuable in many ways. I was able to connect with key individuals who have had the same struggles we have faced with managing adult vaccine programs in a long-term care setting. One of the key take-aways for me was to continue to improve relationships between the care settings in which vaccines are offered. We are all striving for the same outcome, so if we continue to communicate and build relationships, we are most likely to achieve the goals set.”
Immunization Resources
- NIAM Toolkit for Reaching Healthcare Professionals
- NIAM Toolkit for Reaching Parents and Patients
- Fostering a Culture of Immunization in Your Practice (Online Training)
The Association of Immunization Managers (AIM) is dedicated to establishing a nation free of vaccine-preventable disease. AIM members are the leaders of state, local, and territorial immunization programs—directing the public health efforts designed to keep children and adults vaccinated and protected against disease. Since 1999, AIM has provided a national voice for immunization programs and a forum for program managers to learn from each other, confront challenges, and achieve success. Since its inception, AIM has gathered and shared information with its members on policy implementation, legislative issues, programmatic successes, and more.