April 11, 2005 Television Announcements Available to Promote Immunizations

BATON ROUGE, Apr 11, 2005 - As part of the efforts to improve health outcomes for Louisiana’s children, Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco has declared the week of April 24-30 as National Infant Immunization Awareness Week in the state of Louisiana.

In advance of the week, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have produced several public service announcements that promote the importance of childhood immunizations.
The PSAs can be downlinked via a satellite feed tomorrow, April 12, and Thursday, April 14. Both the Spanish and English PSAs can be viewed online at http://www.cdc.gov/nip/events/niiw/2005/05default.htm.

Here are the satellite coordinates:

English-language Infant Immunization PSA:
Tuesday, April 12, 2005 --- 2:00-2:15 PM ET
Thursday, April 14, 2005 --- 10:00-10:15 AM ET
Galaxy 3 (c-band) transponder 4
downlink 3780 (V) audio 6.2 & 6.8

Spanish-language Infant Immunization PSA:
Tuesday, April 12, 2005 --- 2:15-2:30 PM ET
Thursday, April 14, 2005 --- 10:15-10:30 AM ET
Galaxy 3 (c-band) transponder 4
downlink 3780 (V) audio 6.2 & 6.8

In addition, the Department of Health and Hospitals’ Shots for Tots Program is sending out reminder postcards this week to Louisiana parents with children under the age of two who may not be up-to-date on their immunizations.

Through the LINKS system, LDH can identify those children who may be due for one or more immunizations and notify their parents.  Currently, LINKS is in use in about half of all doctors’ offices and all parish health units that provide immunizations.

Parents bringing their children to a parish health unit for immunizations are encouraged to bring the reminder postcard with them. It will be scanned, and the child’s immunization record will be pulled up in LINKS.  This helps to expedite the immunization process.

During the week of April 24, which has been proclaimed National Infant Immunization Week in Louisiana, parish health units and participating partner clinics throughout the state will be offering extended hours to make the immunization process more convenient for parents.  Parish health units will be open on Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 8 a.m. – 6:30 p.m., and Tuesday and Thursday from 7 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.

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