Throughout the country, health departments have struggled with how to best reach medically underserved populations during the novel H1N1 influenza pandemic. In Illinois, the Kane County Health Department implemented an innovative communication strategy that involved local sanitarians in their outreach efforts.
Because many of the county's environmental health workers spend a great deal of time building relationships with restaurant owners and staff, the local health department asked sanitarians to share information about H1N1 clinics with their clients: food workers in restaurants and food workers across the county, including many people who are under or uninsured. The sanitarians were asked to tell individuals that vaccine was available, that it was free, and that they would not be asked any questions about their immigration status if they sought vaccine.
Funding for this intervention came from the county's Local Health Protection Grant and revenues from food permits.