Sickness Prevention Achieved through Regional Collaboration (SPARC)

Description

SPARC is a nonprofit organization dedicated to developing innovative approaches to the delivery of disease prevention services.

Mission

The organization is particularly focused on expanding the population-wide provision of adult vaccinations, screenings for breast, cervical and colorectal cancers, and case finding with follow-up for cardiovascular diseases. The organization’s approach has been to expand access to preventive services in the community, while reinforcing the importance of linking patients and screening results back to the medical home.

Goals

SPARC’s current goals include expanding the organization’s Vote & Vax program, which helps immunizers delivers influenza vaccinations at or near polling places on elections days. With support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), the program expanded in 2004 to 60 polling places in 12 states; these efforts grew in 2006 to 127 polling places in 14 states. In 2008, the program reached 331 locations in 42 states and the District of Columbia, delivering more than 21,000 flu shots. During the 2012 elections, Vote & Vax established a highly successful partnership with Walgreens. As a whole, the national program (all participants) administered an estimated 9,379 vaccines in 48 states as well as Washington, D.C., Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. SPARC’s Vote & Vax program is active during the 2016 presidential election cycle. To learn more visit www.voteandvax.org.