
DATE: Sunday, April 20, 1997                TAG: 9704200053

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY ANGELITA PLEMMER, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   69 lines

INOCULATION EFFORTS OFFER HOPE BEACH: DOOR-TO-DOOR OUTREACH WORKERS TARGET THE CITY'S POOREST NEIGHBORHOODS

Bill Throne fought ferocious winds, ignored six-foot fences and sidestepped snarling guard dogs on a mission of mercy Saturday morning.

His objective: Saving the lives of children by making sure they're immunized.

Armed with a neighborhood map, a bag of folders with immunization information and a comfortable pair of worn tennis shoes, Throne, 40, walked door-to-door in some of the city's poorest neighborhoods to teach parents the importance of childhood immunization.

``We're here really to help children get immunized for free,'' Throne told several residents of the Colony Trailer Park. ``There are a lot of childhood diseases that can be cured pretty easily.''

Brian Shiplee, a resident of the park, asked Throne for tips about immunization, although he and his wife are not expecting their baby until June.

``I'm getting information for the future,'' Shiplee, 28, said. ``It'll help out.

``It will help a lot of people in the community.''

Throne was one of nearly 200 volunteers who participated in the HOPE for Healthy Kids Outreach Campaign. HOPE, Helping Other People Everywhere, is a volunteer outreach organization dedicated to educating inner-city families about immunization and other critical health issues.

Their goal was to contact at least 3,000 homes with children during an all-day effort.

``Forty-eight percent (of children) in the Hampton Roads area are inoculated, which is very low,'' said HOPE organizer Kim Versage. ``President Clinton's goal by the year 2000 is he wants all cities to be at 90 percent, and that's HOPE's goal also. ''

``We've worked with the health department to locate the different underserved areas,'' Versage said, ``but we just decided to target Virginia Beach.''

Volunteers went to 10 areas of the city: Lake Edwards, Williams Village, Princeton Lakes, Pine Oaks Apartments, Plaza Apartments, Twin Canal, Bridle Creek, Friendship Village, Atlantis, 16th Street, Seaside Mobile and Colony trailer parks.

``At each home, we'll ask residents if they have children and then we'll ask them if they know if their shots are updated,'' Versage explained. ``A lot of them might be embarrassed about it or might not answer correctly, so we'll leave them a brochure about what shots you might need and why.''

By the end of the day, volunteers had knocked on about 5,000 doors and given out about 2,700 folders of information. Residents received vouchers for free inoculations and information on where children could receive shots.

``It's surprising to find out how many kids haven't been immunized,'' said 65-year-old HOPE volunteer Barbara Jackson. ``It's a great cause . . . but we're still not finished.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

TAMARA VONINSKI

From left, Colleen Feldhausen, Klent Richardson, and Lara Hill plan

their coverage of neighborhoods off Birdneck Road.

Photo

TAMARA VONINSKI/The Virginian-Pilot

A rally in Virginia Beach Saturday morning brought out 200

volunteers in the HOPE for Healthy Kids Outreach Campaign to raise

awareness for childhood immunizations. The group went door-to-door

all day. KEYWORDS: VACCINES IMMUNIZATIONS VIRGINIA

BEACH