
DATE: Wednesday, April 9, 1997              TAG: 9704090434
SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B2   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY PAT DOOLEY, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   88 lines

COMPUTER TO ASSIST PARENTS IN KEEPING TRACK OF KIDS' SHOTS

Keeping track of your child's immunization records is about to get a whole lot easier.

Instead of your jotting down a dozen dates over two or more years, keeping track of where you put them, and carting them to every doctor or clinic your child visits, a new Virginia Department of Health computer system will do the work for you.

The Virginia Information System Integrated On-Line Network, called VISION, is being introduced today during a ceremony at the governor's mansion in Richmond, where Gov. George Allen is scheduled to sign a proclamation recognizing National Infant Immunization Week in Virginia, April 20 to 26.

The week highlights the role of communities in raising infant immunization rates nationwide, said Dr. Fran Butterfoss, an assistant professor at the Center for Pediatric Research in Norfolk and coordinator of Project Immunize Virginia. The statewide coalition was established 18 months ago; its goal is to make sure all Virginians have been immunized by the year 2000.

Along with representatives from Project Immunize, today's ceremony will be attended by members of the local Consortium for Infant and Children's Health, or CINCH. The group is working to promote health and prevent disease among infants, children and adolescents in Hampton Roads.

The computer program will help authorized public and private health-care providers collect and share immunization information, Butterfoss said. It also will help parents keep track, and avoid the problem of children missing shots or getting too many.

About 40 percent of children in Virginia visit several doctors over the time it takes to get immunized. ``We have a very mobile population in this state,'' Butterfoss said.

The computers are in place in health departments throughout Virginia, including South Hampton Roads.

By September, the health departments will be able to connect with one another and with health-care providers who have compatible equipment, Butterfoss said. The department will give free program software to doctors and other medical-care providers who want to participate.

Even doctors who don't have computers can take part by tracking immunizations and sending the information to the health department.

The computer software was developed by the state health department, with input from physicians, Butterfoss said.

In addition to tracking shots in Virginia, records can be made available to parents and to health-care providers in Virginia and other states if a family relocates, Butterfoss said.

Eventually, the state will be able to mail immunization reminders to parents, she said. Birthday cards will be sent to parents of newborns, informing them of the need to immunize early.

Over the next year, health-care providers around the state will be encouraged to join the network, Butterfoss said.

In Virginia, a child must be fully immunized before attending daycare or school, she said.

Immunization protects against hepatitis B, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (or whooping cough), polio, Hib disease, measles, mumps, rubella and chickenpox, according to a pamphlet from the health department.

It is recommended that children receive five shots by the age of 2. About 70 percent of children across Virginia do, although the figure drops to as low as 50 percent in some areas, Butterfoss said.

Because the series of immunizations is staggered, parents sometimes lose track or forget them, Butterfoss said.

Others may think immunizations are not important if a child appears healthy.

But failing to immunize can lead to illness. Potential complications include brain damage, blindness and even death. A widespread failure to immunize can contribute to an outbreak, Butterfoss said.

A measles outbreak between 1989 and 1991, for example, resulted in 60 deaths and 55,000 hospitalizations nationwide, Butterfoss said.

``We want to make sure everybody gets their shots and gets them on time.'' ILLUSTRATION: Graphic

FOR DETAILS

Immunization from a private physician may cost $200 or more, said

Fran Butterfoss, coordinator for Project Immunize Virginia.

But anyone can receive free immunizations through their local

health department.

For more information, call the department of health's Division of

Immunization at (800) 568-1929, or Project Immunize Virginia at

668-6435.

Or call your local health department:

In Chesapeake, 382-8600.