SHARP and the Summer Shot Clinic

The capstone project that I have been working on this summer at the Shaker Heights Health Department focuses on improving immunization rates in Shaker Heights. We are holding a Summer Shot Clinic in August and are hoping for a great turnout. During the shot clinic, all childhood vaccines will be available. We are also planning on providing information about lead poisoning prevention. My main goal is to reach as many people as possible.

One way that I have been working on this is by collaborating with other organizations in the city to help spread the word about the clinic in the community. A specific group that I have been working with is SHARP (Student Health Advocates Reaching Peers). This is a wonderful group of high school students involved in promoting health through community awareness. The students go through a 3 week training program, during which the health department came to talk to them about our project. I put together a powerpoint presentation about the importance of immunizations as well as the dangers of lead poisoning and ways to prevent it. The SHARP students were very engaged during the presentation and asked many questions. They seemed to be very interested in the project and willing to help us reach the community. I conducted a pre and post test, and the students’ results greatly improved in 4 out of the 5 questions. We came back another day a few weeks later to teach the students how they can help spread the word about the Summer Shot Clinic. I gave examples of different people they may encounter, such as angry people, rude people, and people who are too talkative. We had fun acting out examples with the students and they were all enthusiastic and eager to participate.

After practicing with the students, we put them to the test! We decided to go to Thornton Park, a nearby pool where we thought we would be able to reach a lot of people. We set up a table right at the pool entrance and put out lots of silly bands and tattoos to attract the children. These were a big hit! We had so many kids come up to our table asking if they could have a silly band. Ten SHARP students showed up, which we were very happy with. All of them did an extremely good job of approaching people and passing out flyers. I was impressed with how many people the students were able to talk to! I think preparing them and practicing different scenarios was helpful. I was very grateful that the students of SHARP were so willing to assist us spread the word about the event coming up. We were able to reach many people and hopefully this will increase our turnout at the shot clinic.