It’s a weekday, mid-morning, and Melody Mexicano is pulling her work van out of Harris Health Quentin Mease Health Center. Mexicano, a registered nurse at Harris Health, is headed to a local non-profit location in Harris County that connects low-income families with social services. Her Harris Health van is loaded up with everything she and her colleague need to host their daily mobile vaccination clinic for children.
Mexicano is part of a tight-knit group that runs the Troubleshooters Immunization Program, Harris Health’s innovative solution to the challenge of vaccinating Harris County children with essential vaccines. Troubleshooters brings vaccinations to the community, setting up at schools, recreation centers, social service centers or anywhere there’s enough room for the team’s two folding tables, and providing kids with free vaccines for preventable illnesses like diphtheria, tetanus, hepatitis A & B, human papillomavirus (HPV), influenza, measles, mumps, rubella, Varicella (chickenpox), polio and Rotavirus.