Baw Baw Shire Council’s Public Health Unit has introduced an immunisation reminder service to increase Council’s immunisation coverage rate and to reduce the number of infants overdue for their immunisation.
Under the new initiative, Council’s Public Health Unit sends a text message to parents, informing them that their child is almost due for their next immunisation.
Located 100 kilometres east of Melbourne in the West Gippsland region, Baw Baw Shire has a population of around 37,000 people and covers just over 4,000 square kilometres.
Council introduced the reminder service in May 2010, with the aim of increasing the Shire’s coverage rate of immunisation using a proactive approach rather than a reactive one.
Council created a database that generates the mobile contact details of the parents of children who are due in the following week for their next scheduled immunisation.
An SMS messenger desktop platform is then used to send a text message to the parents informing them that their child is almost due, and where and when the next Council session will be held.
Currently, there are around 256 clients registered for the service, and approximately 15 to 20 texts are sent per week.
As a result, immunisation coverage has increased from 88.16 per cent to 92.6 per cent since the program was introduced last year. The number of reminder letters sent has also been reduced by seven per cent.
Council’s Public Health Coordinator Robyn Duffy said the reminder service provides the community with a convenient and cost effective way to assist parents in managing their children’s immunisation schedule, as well as an affordable way for Council to improve immunisation coverage rates using modern technology.
“This service is more proactive than the traditional reactive approach of sending an overdue letter once the child has already fallen behind in their vaccine schedule,” she said.
“The service assists parents, particularly those who may be too busy to remember the exact date their children are due to be vaccinated. This is particularly the case when some vaccines are given up to six months between visits, and the last two vaccines are given at 18 months, then four years.”
Baw Baw CEO Helen Anstis said the immunisation reminder service is another opportunity for Council to promote the benefits of the immunisation service provided by the Public Health Unit.
“With an increase in the trend to visit a GP, which incurs a consultation fee, we want to widely promote the Council sessions, which are provided free of charge,” she said.
The database and service could be used by other councils to provide the same or similar service for immunisation, maternal child health care, home and community care, emergency management, or any other service where there is a need to directly contact clients in a cost effective and efficient manner.
For further information contact Robyn Duffy on (03) 5624 2452.
