Database Is A Shot In The Arm It Will Help Remind Parents When Kids Need Their Shots

To Sandpoint Pediatrics, immunizing nine of 10 infants is “no big deal.”

Gov. Dirk Kempthorne was in Coeur d’Alene on Wednesday to recognize Sandpoint Pediatrics and other agencies in North Idaho for successful vaccination rates.

“It’s just the way we do things around here,” pediatrician George DeLand said humbly. “We’re trying to figure out where on the wall to put the plaque.”

The clinic is one of only five private providers to reach a rate of 90 percent in the state. Kempthorne also traveled to Lewiston, Idaho Falls and Pocatello as part of a statewide campaign to promote a new information and reminder system that should help the rest of Idaho improve.

While the rest of the state has dragged Idaho’s average immunization rate to 70 percent - the lowest in the nation - the Panhandle’s numbers are better and improving.

In 1996, North Idaho was at 52 percent. Currently, it’s at 87 percent. Coeur d’Alene’s rate is 92 percent.

The new program is called the Immunization Reminder Information System. It’s a database filled with immunization records for anyone who wants to participate. The idea is to keep immunization records in one place, said Marie Rau, a public health nursing supervisor with the Panhandle Health District. That way, parents don’t have to remember which shots their children have had and what is due.

“We want children immunized,” Rau said. “We’re willing to encourage any tool that causes that to happen. This is one of those tools.”

Once the records are compiled, health agencies in Idaho can use the reminder system database to call parents and remind them when their children need shots.

There are 19,000 records in the database at the district.

“The more we get in there, the more helpful we can be,” Rau said DeLand said he anticipates the database will be helpful, though some will resist volunteering.

“Some people are worried about `Big Brother’ having them on a database,” DeLand said. “There will be some people who choose not to participate, but I think most people will be glad to, because I don’t think they’re looking for personal information.”

When parents can’t remember which shots their children have had, pediatricians have to administer the shots anyway, which can be costly.

Kempthorne’s goal is to have Idaho’s immunization rate at 90 percent.