Those who complete Community Health Advocate HPV Vaccine training requirements will receive a $800 incentive for performing outreach activities throughout the community.
(SAVANNAH, GA) Healthy Savannah is seeking to train up to 18 community health advocates (CHAs) to promote awareness and acceptance of the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination.
The online CHA training will be offered at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Sep. 26. It follows a listening session held at Savannah State University (SSU) on Sep. 12, at which Healthy Savannah introduced the CHA program to a group of 14 students.
“I had no idea that among Black women, cervical cancer mortality rates are almost one and a half times as high as in White women with cervical cancer,” said Keyonie Collier, one of the student attendees. “We need to make sure more college-aged Black women hear this message.”
Healthy Savannah is inviting current CHAs, along with anyone interested in joining the program, to register for the upcoming CHA training session. Those who complete the training requirements will receive an $800 incentive for performing outreach activities and will join 12 CHAs who completed a previous training session and are now serving throughout the community.
“If we can bring about a culture of acceptance of the HPV vaccine in Savannah’s priority communities, and if vaccination rates were to rise to 90% or better, HPV-related cervical cancer could be drastically reduced,” said Dr. Elsie Smalls, operations manager. “We greatly appreciate SSU’s Health Center and Nurse Practitioner Sunni Jetts in partnering with us to host this listening event to help deliver that message. The students seemed excited to learn more about preventing HPV-related cancers and to share that information with family and friends.”
Healthy Savannah strives to instill the culture of vaccine acceptance, in great part, through its CHA program.
“According to the CDC, more than 50,000 adults in the US die from vaccine-preventable diseases or their complications each year. More than 42 million people are infected with the human papillomavirus, or HPV, which can cause cervical and other cancers,” said Bonzo Reddick, MD, health director of the 8-county Coastal Health District. “The Coastal Health District wants you to know that HPV-related cancers are preventable, and the HPV vaccine and other vaccines can save your life. Our health departments will work with you to ensure access to the HPV vaccine and other lifesaving vaccines no matter your health insurance status or financial situation.”
Several Chatham County clinics offer no-cost vaccines or can help the underinsured and uninsured connect with resources. They include Coastal Health District’s Eisenhower Clinic, J. C. Lewis Primary Health Care and Curtis V Cooper Primary Health Care. For more information, visit https://healthysavannah.org/our-programs/adult-immunization/hpv/ or visit the online HERO database at herohelpme.com, click on “health care,” and select “low-cost medical services.
Healthy Savannah’s HPV Vaccination Equity Initiative grant was bestowed in February by CHC: Creating Healthier Communities, allowing the organization to expand its award-winning Community Health Advocate (CHA) program to include training on the benefits of HPV vaccination.
By offering these educational and training opportunities, Healthy Savannah is striving to inspire the public to become more aware of HPV-related cancers and HPV prevention through vaccination. Youths as young as 9 and adults up to age 45 can be eligible to receive the HPV vaccine.
The organization’s HPV Vaccination Equity Initiative team and its CHAs also distribute toolkits with an overview of HPV, talking points, local and national resources, flyers, suggested social media posts, and podcasts and webinars from the CDC.
Healthy Savannah originally developed the CHA program in 2021 during the first of two five-year collaborative Racial & Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) grants totaling $8.5 million to promote awareness, acceptance and availability of the COVID-19 vaccine. The initiative was later expanded to include all adult vaccines. Since its inception, the program has trained more than 80 CHAs to share science-based information and resources about the benefits of adult vaccines with people in their neighborhoods, jobs, schools, and at sporting events.
“When the CDC bestowed its REACH Lark Galloway-Gilliam Award for Advancing Health Equity Challenge to Healthy Savannah in 2022, it was made known that our CHA program was instrumental in the CDC’s decision to recognize our organization,” said Paula Kreissler, executive director.
In February 2024, after receiving a one-year, $150,000 grant from CHC: Creating Healthier Communities, Healthy Savannah expanded its CHA program further to promote vaccine equity in preventing HPV-related cancers and to support new and expanded community-driven solutions.
To register for the Sep. 26 CHA training session or learn more about the HPV Vaccination Equity Initiative, email Patricia Merritt, program coordinator, at patricia@healthysavannah.org. For more information about the CHA program, visit https://healthysavannah.org/2021/07/09/community-advocate-program/.
ABOUT THE HEALTHY SAVANNAH HPV VACCINATION EQUITY INITIATIVE
In February 2024, the CHC: Creating Healthier Communities, awarded a one-year $150,000 grant to Healthy Savannah to promote vaccine equity to prevent cancer and support new and expanded community-driven solutions to address social and other factors that negatively impact access to cancer prevention interventions for disproportionately affected populations in the Savannah area. Specifically, the grant will support Healthy Savannah’s initiatives in developing, implementing, and bringing resources and policy attention to solutions that break down barriers of mistrust in the healthcare system, skepticism of vaccine effectiveness and lack of awareness about vaccine access and the availability of prevention interventions for certain cancers. Healthy Savannah is one of only three organizations across the state of Georgia to be awarded this grant and is adapting its award-winning Community Health Advocate (CHA) program and working with more than 200 community partners and organizations to foster sustainable health equity in this space. Healthy Savannah developed the CHA program during the first of two five-year CDC Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) grants it currently administers with the YMCA of Coastal Georgia. The methodology uses an “upstream” approach to foster sustainable health equity among racial and ethnic minority populations in low-wealth neighborhoods in areas of nutrition, physical activity and the reduction of chronic diseases. In July 2022, Healthy Savannah received the CDC’s 2022 REACH Lark Galloway-Gilliam Award for Advancing Health Equity Challenge. The award recognizes extraordinary individuals and entities whose work has contributed to advancing health equity.
healthysavannah.org
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