Lānaʻi Woman Named Hawaiʻi’s CDC Child Immunization Champion

Chelsea Tadena. Image courtesy CDC.

Lānaʻi’s Chelsea Tadena was recognized this week for receiving Hawaiʻi’s CDC Childhood Immunization Champion Award, issued by the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Tadena, who is a medical assistant at the Lānaʻi Community Health Center earned the award through her work in assuring the clinic’s policies align with the Vaccines for Children program requirements.

Within two years of receiving poor results on the VFC compliance visit, CDC representatives say Lānaʻi saw a significant improvement in all areas under Tadena’s leadership.  In the last VFC compliance visit in 2015, the program earned an almost perfect compliance record.

The immunization champion award is an annual award given jointly by the CDC Foundation and CDC during National Infant Immunization Week to recognize individuals who make a significant contribution toward improving public health through their work in childhood immunization.

Below is a biography compiled by the CDC explaining their selection of Tadena for the award:

“When the Lānaʻi Community Health Center scored poorly on its 2013 compliance visit for the Vaccines for Children Program, Chelsea Tadena decided to take action. Given that the clinic is located on a smaller Hawaiian island with limited resources, Tadena knew any solutions for the compliance issues would need to be cost effective.

Tadena worked tirelessly to learn all of the VFC program requirements and recommendations. To meet the recommendations for storage, she took the initiative to extensively research units the clinic could afford. After identifying possible units, she worked with the health center’s upper management to acquire new stand-alone vaccine storage units.

Tadena has proven herself to be a leader in managing the VFC program, making sure the clinic’s policies align with the program requirements. Within two years of receiving poor results on the VFC compliance visit, Tadena has driven significant improvement in all areas, and their last compliance site visit in 2015 was almost perfect. She is a terrific advocate for her patients and the VFC program. She actively collaborates with the Department of Health to ensure she continues to meet requirements and the clinic stays in compliance.

For her commitment to ensuring VFC compliance and providing the best quality of service to her patients, Tadena is Hawaiʻi’s CDC Childhood Immunization Champion.”

The CDC also has a vaccines website for parents, which includes information about the vaccines children need, the diseases that vaccines prevent, and the latest vaccination coverage estimates.