(Above) Margaret Jahn, NACCHO Board President; Vermilion County Public Health Administrator Douglas Toole, Amy Lacy, and NACCHO CEO Lori Tremmel Freeman
THE FOLLOWING IS A VERMILION COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTMENT RELEASE
Local Health Department Program is One of Ten Nationwide to be Selected as the National Association of County and City Health Officials’ “Bronze Innovative Practice Awardee” in 2022
DANVILLE – The Vermilion County Health Department received the 2022 Bronze Innovative Practice Award by the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) at the NACCHO 360 Conference in July.The award celebrates local health departments for developing innovative programs to meet the needs of their communities during the COVID-19 pandemic. The designation as a Bronze Innovative Practice demonstrates a high level of program innovation and reflects collaboration, adaptability, and program resilience. “We are honored to receive NACCHO’s Bronze Innovative Practice Award,” said Public Health Administrator Douglas Toole. “The award is recognition of our commitment to adapting to changing situations in order to serve the public health needs of our community
(Left) Amy Lacy and Douglas Toole pose with award at NACCHO 360 Conference. (Right) A view outside the Vermilion County Health Department’s first COVID vaccination clinic at the Fischer Threatre in January of 2021.
NACCHO represents the nation’s nearly 3,000 local governmental health departments. “Vaccinations at the Theatre” was one of 10 local health department programs to receive NACCHO’s Bronze Innovative Practice Award in 2022. In January of 2021, the Vermilion County Health Department began holding COVID-vaccination clinics in its office, but due to the layout of the building, there were limits on the number of people who could be served.Melissa Rome, the health department’s Emergency Response Coordinator / Community Liaison at the time, was researching larger, easily accessible venues which could host vaccination clinics and which were centrally located in the county. She then realized that the recently renovated Fischer Theatre – which was built as an opera house in the heart of downtown Danville in 1884, and where her husband, Jason, served as executive director — would be an ideal location for a clinic. And so, a partnership was formed.The health department held 10 vaccination clinics at the Fischer Theatre in early 2021, and vaccinated more than 4,000 people at those clinics. The Fischer’s volunteer workers helped people check in and move through the clinics, and thousands of participants were able to see the interior of the theatre, which had been closed for years.“Local health departments have demonstrated remarkable innovation and resilience to better the health of their communities during the pandemic, and the 2022 Innovative Practice Awards highlight the very best practices,” said NACCHO’s Chief Executive Officer, Lori Tremmel Freeman. “Winners excelled at various disciplines including promoting health equity, contact tracing, mobile testing, contactless medication delivery, and many more. NACCHO is very proud to recognize the outstanding work done by local health departments in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.” Innovative Practices are exciting approaches and strategies to local public health issues that were developed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and were creatively adapted to meet the circumstances of the pandemic. The Innovative Practices honors are awarded to local health departments across the country for implementing programs that can demonstrate exemplary, adaptable programs with replicable outcomes. “Over the course of the pandemic, we were able to hold vaccination clinics at our office, at Danville Area Community College, at the airport, at community centers, at schools, at churches, and at workplaces,” Toole said. “We are appreciative of all of our hosts, but the clinics at the Fischer were special. It was an inspired idea.” “The clinics were a lot of work. We used our own staff, some temporary workers, the staff and volunteers at the Fischer, our Medical Reserve Corps, student nurses, local emergency medical technicians and paramedics, and – in early April – members of the Illinois National Guard,” said Amy Lacy, the health department’s current Emergency Response Coordinator / Community Liaison. “It was worth it. We received a lot of positive feedback from people about how well-run our clinics were. And people absolutely loved seeing the Fischer and sitting in theater seats during their post-vaccination observation time.” Susan Fauver, the health department’s Director of Community Health Services, said that holding clinics at the Fischer allowed the department to vaccinate more people more efficiently. “At our January clinics in the health department, using our WIC waiting room and main hallway, we were vaccinating between 120 and 240 people per day,” Fauver said. “In the Fischer’s lobby, we could have four or five vaccination stations operating at once. In those March clinics, we were vaccinating 600 or more people per day. The extra space and extra help really made a difference in meeting the demand for vaccinations.” The annual NACCHO 360 conferences help local health officials envision the future of local public health in their communities and provide them with the essential skills and strategies to achieve that vision effectively and efficiently.The theme of the 2022 conference, “Looking to the Future: Reshaping the Public Health System” explored how the local public health workforce and its stakeholders can move forward in the midst of an ongoing crisis while implementing traditional and innovative approaches to restructure a system built to protect the health of communities nationwide. The Vermilion County Health Department provides WIC services, immunizations, and environmental health services to protect and promote health in the community, and can be reached at (217) 431-2662. Visit the website at www.vchd.org<http://www.vchd.org>.
