Special to the Town Crier
Camino Healthcare physicians, employees and Auxiliary members joined with the El Camino Hospital District Board and local organizations in a community-wide effort to boost Mountain View's childhood immunization rates on June 3.
More than 500 volunteers from local schools, health provider organizations, community organizations and businesses joined together to participate in the Kids in Common campaign, funded by the El Camino Hospital District.
This event was the culmination of the Kids in Common campaign that emphasized the importance of having a child immunized by age 2. According to Kids in Common, a non-profit collaborative dedicated to improving the lives of children and families in the community, only 56 percent of Santa Clara County children are fully immunized by this age. The campaign's goal is to raise on-time immunization rates to 90 percent by 1996.
At the event, volunteers split into groups and walked door-to-door distributing bilingual health care education and resource information to designated Mountain View neighborhoods. Several health care professionals volunteered to staff seven immunization sites offering free vaccinations that day.
Mountain View resident Jane Jones said she was happy to take advantage of the free, convenient immunization services. As soon as the Kids in Common volunteer left her doorstep, she brought her 2-year-old son, Bennie, in for his shots at an immunization site at Whisman School, which was staffed by Camino Medical Group physicians and Camino Healthcare employees.
Camino Medical Group physician volunteers at the Whisman site included ear, nose and throat specialist Dave Downie, M.D.; and pediatricians Juan Garona, M.D., and Elliot Lepler, M.D.
"I think it's fundamental that we get more involved in our community," Garona said. "Within our population there is a large portion of underserved people who need our attention. I hope we'll get more physicians and staff involved in these types of programs in the future."
Downie added, "I like the fact that Camino Medical Group and Camino Healthcare are committed to doing more at the community level. I know it's been in our mission statement, but it's wonderful to see it actually happening."
Camino Healthcare President and Chief Executive Officer Dick Pettingill, who volunteered at the event, said he believed the day was "a wonderful example of what we can accomplish when we all work together. The campaign, made possible by a grant from the El Camino Hospital District, allowed the District, Camino Healthcare and the Foundation Board of Directors to join forces to achieve our common goal - to improve our community's health and well being."
Paul Hoar, M.D., chairman of the El Camino Hospital District Board, spoke at the event about the importance of caring for our nation's children. He said the El Camino Hospital District Board of Directors designated 1994-95 as the "Year of the Child" because they feel the children of this country are under-represented.
"While the percentage of elderly living in poverty in this country has dropped significantly due to Social Security and Medicare, one in five children continues to live in poverty," Hoar said.
Kathryn Cuevas, a clinical nurse in Surgical Services, said she volunteered because she knew from first-hand experience that childhood immunizations are important.
"When my son was in kindergarten, he was exposed to whooping cough because one of his classmates hadn't been immunized," Cuevas said. "That made me realize how very important it is for everyone to immunize their children."