Ka'u Rural Health Community Association, Inc.

(Feb 11, 2022) The Office of Regional Health Operations (ORHO) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH), is requesting your support in an important initiative aimed at increasing community knowledge and confidence in vaccines among older African American adults with a focus on community health workers (CHWs).  We would appreciate you disseminating this survey within your organization and networks, particularly among African American community health workers aged 50 and older.

ORHO connects people, convenes local partners, and establishes networks to promote and advance the public health and safety of the American people. Regional Health Administrators (RHAs) within each of the 10 HHS Regional Offices serve to foster coordination and collaboration across federal departments and HHS agencies and as extensions of OASH to ensure that HHS priorities are translated and implemented at the local, state, tribal, and national levels.

Recently, HHS released the National Strategic Plan for Vaccines 2021–2025, highlighting the specific need to “reduce disparities and inequities, increase access to and use of routinely recommended vaccines across the lifespan.”  Vaccine uptake for adults has been low, and disparities persist among racial and ethnic populations. To address these disparities and encourage vaccination among adults, promotional materials on herpes zoster (shingles) and pneumococcal (pneumonia) vaccines were developed, with a specific goal of reaching African Americans aged 50 and older.

We would like to invite you to participate in a brief online survey specific to vaccine messaging and vaccine uptake. Survey responses will be anonymous and should take about 20 minutes to complete.   Your participation is important and will help ORHO to:

To access and complete the survey, please click on the following link:
              https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/Region-9-CHW-Survey.

This link can also be forwarded to individuals and organizations within your networks. We kindly request that the survey be completed no later than Monday February 28, 2022.

Thank you in advance for your participation. If you have any questions about this project, please contact Corstella Johnson (corstella.johnson@hhs.gov). If you are having technical difficulties completing the survey, please contact CHWsurveyhelp@mayatech.com.