John C. Lincoln’s Community Health Center in North Phoenix has been honored for achieving the highest child immunization rates within The Arizona Partnership for Immunization (TAPI).
TAPI is a non-profit statewide coalition of more than 400 public, government and private sector members who provide childhood immunization information, advocacy and services. When it was organized in the early 1990s, it established Arizona’s goal of completely immunizing of 90 percent of the state’s two-year-olds.
With support from the Geddes Philanthropic Trust, TAPI annually presents the Dr. Daniel T. Cloud Outstanding Practice Award to its member with the highest immunization rates that exceed the Arizona goal.
John C. Lincoln’s Community Health Center at 9221 N. Central Avenue, Phoenix, was honored with the 2007 Dr. Cloud Award for fully-immunizing 96 percent of its two-year-old patients.
“We are one of only 39 TAPI member practices statewide who met the goal and were nominated for the award,” said Cindy Hallman, Executive Director of the Desert Mission. “We were chosen tops of this elite group!”
The Desert Mission includes an entire safety net of programs for families in need, including the community health center, a food bank, children’s dental clinic, childcare center and family resource center.
TAPI was formed in response to the alarming fact that in 1993 only 43 percent of Arizona’s two-year-olds were fully immunized against preventable childhood diseases like measles, mumps, polio and whooping cough.
Through the efforts of TAPI’s partners from both the public and private sectors, immunization coverage rates in Arizona have improved dramatically, with nearly 75 percent of the state’s children fully immunized by age two. |