ROBERT PIERCE
• Leader & Times
An area health care leader was recently recognized on a national level for her work to help make immunizations available to everyone.
Immunize Kansas Coalition Director Geovannie Gone recently received the 20224 Equity in Immunization Award at the 16th annual National Conference for Immunization Coalitions and Partnerships (NCICP).
The award highlights Gone’s innovative strategies and efforts to build vaccine access and equity initiatives across the state of Kansas from engaging in grassroots education to holding the first solely Spanish-speaking conference in Kansas.
Gone is IKC’s first director, and she said the NCICP conference brings public health and immunization coalitions from across America together.
Gone called the award an honorable one, and she said it is not only recognition to her, but to the the state of Kansas itself.
“In the past year and a half, we have been working very hard to ensure across our nation, we are recognized, and this award, even though it was presented to me for the innovative strategies I’ve been able to implement across the state, I think it was also a recognition for what the state of Kansas is doing to advance equity across our health care system,” she said.
Naturally, Gone was very excited and honored to receive the award.
“I’ve been working with them for the past year and a half, so being able to be the recipient of this award from 45 nominations that came in, I was very humbled and honored to be able to be chosen for this,” she said.
IKC was a statewide initiative launched in 2015. Gone was named the coalition’s first director in 2022, and she said thus far, IKC is going great. She said the coalition continues to work closely with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, as well as through partnerships on the national level such as the Centers for Disease Control, all to ensure equitable access to immunizations across all sectors.
“The coalition is definitely moving in the right direction,” she said. “We went from having 100 members to over 700 involved members who are working very closely with the coalition to ensure all kids are vaccinated with the back to school vaccines that are required, but we also pay close attention to any outbreak or any diseases spreading within our state.”
A recent measles outbreak happened in Chicago, and Gone said this raised concerns in Kansas City of having people infected with measles coming into the state and creating an outbreak.
“Because of our close monitoring in regards to people traveling and taking the right precautions, we haven’t seen any cases as of right now,” she said.
Gone said IKC has come a long way in its short time in existence, partnering with organizations such as the International Respiratory Coalition to ensure refugees coming into Kansas have access to vaccines and the right education.
“We’ve also been able to do a lot of work with the meatpacking plants and the organizations like the dairies and the feedlots to make sure the employees have access to the immunizations regardless of their insurance,” she said.
Gone added IKC has been able to partner with universities on several research projects and the Kansas Health Institute on webinars and series.
“We’ve also been able to do several conferences to focus on cancer prevention, the HPV vaccine and the infant mortality rate,” she said. “Our state has experienced an increase very specifically within the Black and African community and the Hispanic community. We are educating women from all spectrums of preventative care with the added prevention on cancer – cirvical and mammograms and the effectiveness of the HPV vaccine.”
In its efforts, Gone said IKC has also come a long way in solidifying partnerships.
“We’ve increased our memberships,” she said. “We are now recognized nationally in regard to our efforts and campaigns. From when we started to right now, there’s been a huge growth. Anybody can see it from the diversified campaign we have going on.”
Gone, though, is confident the coalition can go much further in its efforts.
“We have an amazing community health specialist team and grassroots education among the different communities across the state,” she said. “We can continue working with some of the campaigns and some of the different departments.”
Gone said growth is still very much possible for IKC, and with more people involvement, more awareness can be created among communities to keep people healthy and safe.
“So far, I am very pleased with the progress and the growth we’ve experienced,” she said.
So what drives Gone to do what she does? She said one factor is service to communities.
“I love being able to serve others and be able to advocate for community health,” she said.
A second factor for Gone is derived from a personal experience.
“When I lived in Mexico when I was young, my family was stricken by chicken pox,” she said. “Myself and my two sisters had chicken pox, and my middle sister almost died. I remember the blisters on her body.”
Gone said lack of vaccinations did not happen because of a family belief in not getting vaccinated, but rather lack of access to vaccines.
“We did not have the money,” she said. “We didn’t have the health care available for us to be vaccinated.”
Gone, who currently lives in Garden City, said coming to the U.S. allowed her to see children getting vaccinated for diseases such as chicken pox, polio and measles, mumps and rubella, which now all have been eradicated because of those vaccines.
“I think sometimes, people forget these diseases once were an outbreak, once were part of society, and many people died,” she said. “In my case, my sister almost died of that, and I am very grateful I live in a country where I do have access to these vaccines through the health departments or through my hospital. That way, I can keep my kids healthy.”
