Date: October 2015

Immunize Nevada is thrilled to announce that it recently won three awards from the  National Public Health Information Coalition (NPHIC), Executive Director, Heidi Parker, was named a Healthcare Hero by Nevada Business Magazine and the non-profit was awarded the #1 Wellness Policy from The Nevada Division of Public and Behavioral Health. 

NPHIC announced this month that Immunize Nevada’s campaign for National Infant Immunization Week (NIIW) won three awards:  a silver medal for their overall NIIW campaign, a bronze medal for their immunization schedule magnet, and a bronze medal for their infant immunization brochure.  Immunize Nevada retained the Estipona Group to execute this campaign, which included a unique feature: cartoon germs created by local art director Charlie Nemitz. 

“Our National Infant Immunization Week campaign featured cartoon images of diseases such as Polio, which was a fun and lighthearted way to communicate serious information around infant immunizations,” said Heidi Parker, Executive Director of Immunize Nevada. She added that the cartoon images were so well received that Immunize Nevada is using the same concept in their upcoming flu vaccine campaign this fall. 

Heidi Parker also received the Nonprofit Healthcare Hero award recently from Nevada Business Magazine. The award recognized Parker’s work with Immunize Nevada to break down barriers to vaccines and advocate for vaccines statewide. “We have a passionate staff that is dedicated to the mission of Immunize Nevada and we are successful at what we do thanks to our statewide healthcare partners,” Parker said in response to the award.  She also took the opportunity to challenge business owners to be Healthcare Heroes as well, by scheduling flu vaccine clinics and/or promoting flu vaccine for their employees this upcoming flu season.  

Immunize Nevada was also awarded the #1 Wellness Policy at Your Work in the 2015 Nevada’s Best of Health & Wellness awards. The award was based on a survey done by the Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion Section of the Nevada Division of Public and Behavioral Health.  The award noted that the Immunize Nevada team works together to support healthy lifestyles and behaviors, including healthy food choices in the office and opportunities for fitness breaks. Other perks like supporting breastfeeding and baby friendly spaces help new moms feel supported when returning to work. “As a health focused organization, we feel it’s vital that we take care of employees as much as we do our communities,” said Executive Director Heidi Parker. 

Immunize Nevada advocates for and educates about the benefits of vaccines and fosters statewide collaboration to achieve Nevada’s health priorities. Immunize Nevada’s vision is for healthy communities across Nevada being protected from vaccine-preventable disease. For more information, visitImmunizeNevada.org