What does public health modernization look like when you’re serving four islands, a geographically isolated population, and a community still shaped by the aftermath of major hurricanes? In this episode, Esther Ellis, Territorial Epidemiologist for the U.S. Virgin Islands Department of Health shares how PHIG (Public Health Infrastructure Grant) funding is transforming the territory’s health data systems, and why that matters far beyond technology. From launching a cloud-based immunization information system that replaced records lost after Hurricanes Irma and Maria, to implementing an electronic case reporting portal for notifiable diseases, the Virgin Islands is building a more connected, real-time public health infrastructure. Ellis explains how these systems improve vaccine tracking, outbreak response, provider reporting, and access to care, especially in a region where travel between islands requires flights or ferries and 25% of residents are uninsured.
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This is Public Health Review
Morning Edition for Tuesday,
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00:00:04,280 --> 00:00:07,960
February 17th, 2026.
I'm John Sheehan with news from
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00:00:07,960 --> 00:00:10,880
the Association of State and
Territorial Health Officials.
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Today, on this FIG Impact
report, we hear what public
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health modernization looks like
when you're serving four
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islands, a geographically
isolated population in a
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community still shaped by the
aftermath of Major.
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Hurricanes.
Our guest, Esther Ellis,
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Territorial Epidemiologist for
the US Virgin Islands Department
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of Health, shares how FIG
funding is transforming the
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territories health data systems
and why that matters far beyond
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technology.
We've utilized FIG funding most
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recently to support our data
modernization efforts and that's
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been really valuable.
We actually received FIG funding
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in December of 2022 and we've
made data modernization efforts
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a priority since the beginning.
We leveraged CDC funds such as
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the Public Health Infrastructure
Grant, but also we've used CDC
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epidemiology and laboratory
capacity or ELC funds to support
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additional data monetization
efforts.
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And one of those efforts has
been the electronic immunization
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database.
Can you describe this and and
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what have you done?
That's correct.
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So the electronic immunization
database, it's an immunization
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database or information
immunization information system.
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A lot of people on immunization
call that IIS and it's a system
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that records all vaccination
doses administered by
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participating providers to
residents within a specific
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geographical area.
That means for us in the Virgin
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Islands, our IIS system keeps
track of vaccination doses to
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everyone within the Virgin
Islands.
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Have you seen any early benefits
from the system?
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Definitely many of the people on
this listening to this that are
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aware with the Virgin Islands
though that we experienced 2CAT5
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hurricanes in 2015.
Hurricanes are my Maria and
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during that time we lost the
manual immunization database.
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And so the immunization program
wanted to move towards a cloud
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based system which was
established in 2020.
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And this system was able to
consolidate all of our
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vaccination records from various
providers into a single secure
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record, ensuring patients remain
up to date and protected against
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vaccine preventable diseases.
And we are shifting that
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electronic system into even more
modernized system.
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And that means really having an
electronic immunization database
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positions our program here in
the Virgin Islands Department of
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Health and a space that includes
vaccination as a crucial
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component and or overall access
to healthcare.
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It allows patients to access
their vaccination data
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regardless of what provider they
might have gone to, to get
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vaccinated.
And that also allows us to work
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towards figuring out who might
not be getting vaccinated so
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that we can do targeted
education to vulnerable
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populations.
And it also has allowed us to
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determine an accurate
vaccination rate.
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Some of the other benefits or
improvements we're seeing from
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having this electronic
immunization database in place
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is consumer access.
The system will benefit patients
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and families with centralized
records convenience.
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It helps to identify when a
patient is due for a a dose or
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booster and prevents over
vaccination and interoperability
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with other IAS systems in
several U.S. states.
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And this really benefits
healthcare providers and it
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allows physicians to quickly
assess if a patient is complete
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because in their vaccination
history, because it it
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consolidated the vaccination
history into one place and and
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can talk to other states as
well.
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So, you know, somebody here in
the Virgin Islands might have
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had some of their vaccinations
done here, but then moves out of
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the territory to a state And
that data will be complete in in
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the system.
Also, data access in real time
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when conducting community
outreach efforts.
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For example, the data can assist
us This epidemiologist with
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outbreak response allows us to
identify gaps in coverage in
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certain populations.
Can you tell us a little bit
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about the Electronic Cases
reporting portal?
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Is this related to what you were
talking about?
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So we have been able to use FIG
funding to implement an
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electronic case reporting web
portal for all notifiable
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diseases.
That's been really valuable.
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We've been able to work with a
company called Hummingbird
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Health and the system is called
Beacon, and the impact has been
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really wonderful for our
providers as well As for us
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epidemiologists and laboratories
who are collecting the data.
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It's been really critical
because it makes it easier for
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providers to submit reportable
diseases data and that improves
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our data completeness and
accuracy, also improves time
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timeliness because they're able
to get it in really quickly
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through the portal.
And additionally, providers need
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help getting a sample tested for
an infectious disease.
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They can request the testing on
the portal.
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So it really has gone both ways
as far as making it really easy
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for the providers as well As for
the laboratory if they're
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receiving a sample and then from
the EPI side, getting all the
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data.
And as you're, it strikes me
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that, you know, you mentioned,
you mentioned the Hurricanes in
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2015 being like 1-1, you know,
geographic challenge of the area
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and you know, it kind of knocked
out your, your infrastructure
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there for a little bit.
And I can absolutely see how
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these efforts are are really
necessary just to keep track of
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everybody.
What other challenges do you
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deal with in in the islands?
I mean it's the structure of
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them is so different than
stateside.
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Yeah, a lot of challenges.
You know, we're geographically
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isolated.
It's consists of four islands,
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Saint Croix, Saint Thomas, St.
John or Water Island, and those
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islands cover approximately 133
square miles of combined land
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area.
So that's about twice the area
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of the District of Columbia.
We're about 40 miles east of
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Puerto Rico.
Everybody always knows where
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Puerto Rico is and compared to,
you know, if we look at our
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census data, our population is
about 87,000 residents.
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But a lot of our challenges, not
only are we geographically
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separated from the US mainland,
but we are geographically
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separated from each other.
To get from Saint Croix to Saint
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Thomas requires a flight or two
hour ferry and then Saint Thomas
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to Saint John is about a 20 to
40 minute ferry and Water
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Island's about a 5 minute boat
ride from Saint Thomas.
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But that creates a lot of
challenges as far as access to
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care.
We also have a very vulnerable
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population when you look at
insurance.
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So of our our population here,
according to the 2020 census,
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the number of individuals
without insurance was 20,825.
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So that's 25% of our population
does not have insurance and
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that's actually three times the
national average.
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And and that just kind of tells
you how much of A vulnerable
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population we have here.
When you look at education as
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well, about 38% of our residents
have at least a high school
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diploma.
Well, only 22% have a bachelor's
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degree or higher.
So again, our education is lower
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when you compare it to national
averages.
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And it really just means we need
to do more work here.
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And I'll work a little harder
when it comes to educating our
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population about the importance
of vaccines, the importance of
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prevention of infectious
disease, surveillance efforts
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and and all that.
The good thing with our
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community is that the Virgin
Islands Department of Health is
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a trusted source of health
information.
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So that's really great.
We've worked hard to achieve
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that.
And we do do a lot of outreach,
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whether it's Facebook or radio
or newspaper or government
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access channel to reach our
population and epidemiology.
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We still go door to door
sometimes and, and just check
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on, you know how, how like just
when we were doing the census to
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door to door, when we're doing
like, let's say a disaster
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response, like after the
Hurricanes, we were going door
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to door to find out, you know,
how people were doing mental
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health wise, how people were
doing as far as repairing their
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homes, access to food and water
and all those things.
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Especially after the Hurricanes,
because a lot of people didn't
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have power.
So they didn't have power,
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didn't have Internet.
It took a lot longer here, being
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geographically isolated, to get
those things back up and running
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again.
Absolutely.
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And even just going from house
to house is challenging.
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I mean, the, the infrastructure
itself, there's a lot of, you
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know, space between, between
plots and the roads themselves
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have a lot of mountainous
features involved.
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It's it's that's a tough job for
for anyone in public service.
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Yes, definitely.
But it's a rewarding job because
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you see a direct impact on your
community because we are a small
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community.
So, you know, I'll run into
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someone at the grocery store
that was here during Zika and
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was pregnant and we came to
their house to do mosquito
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control and they didn't get Zika
while they were pregnant.
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And they're like, thank you so
much.
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So it's really rewarding to
actually see the impact of our
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work here.
When we look at some of the
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great public health work that we
do do and, and you know,
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bringing it back to
modernization, we can definitely
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see a direct impact on the
community when it comes to
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modernization because we can see
that more people are getting
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tested for infectious diseases
that previously weren't because
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of the access to free testing,
access to the portal.
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So if it's easier for providers
who are very busy here, then
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it's more likely that they're
going to participate and submit
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a sample for testing.
Do you have plans for for future
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growth of the system?
Yes, always, always plans to
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grow.
Funding is a major challenge for
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us because if you think of the
health information systems and
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you look at the expense, a lot
of times the cost is the same
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for a small population versus a
large population because it's
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the cost for the system and it's
not necessarily how many, how
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many things are going into the
system, the volume, but it's
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really the the system that is
the cost.
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So really the FIG funding has
made it possible to make a lot
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of long term progress because it
was received as a five year
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award.
And that was a really a success
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of the program to be a five year
cooperative agreement.
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So that it gave jurisdictions,
territory, States and
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territories time to to assess
what needed to be done to
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determine this is what we're
going to do to get a contract in
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place to pay the vendors and
then to get the work done.
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And right now we're in the
getting the work done and I'm
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excited to continue this work.
Esther Ellis is territorial
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epidemiologist for the US Virgin
Islands Department of Health.
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This has been Public Health
Review.
196
00:11:00,320 --> 00:11:02,600
MORNING EDITION.
I'm John Sheehan for the
197
00:11:02,600 --> 00:11:05,320
Association of State and
Territorial Health Officials.
00:00:01,880 --> 00:00:04,280
This is Public Health Review
Morning Edition for Tuesday,
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00:00:04,280 --> 00:00:07,960
February 17th, 2026.
I'm John Sheehan with news from
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00:00:07,960 --> 00:00:10,880
the Association of State and
Territorial Health Officials.
4
00:00:11,440 --> 00:00:14,560
Today, on this FIG Impact
report, we hear what public
5
00:00:14,560 --> 00:00:17,240
health modernization looks like
when you're serving four
6
00:00:17,240 --> 00:00:20,760
islands, a geographically
isolated population in a
7
00:00:20,760 --> 00:00:23,440
community still shaped by the
aftermath of Major.
8
00:00:23,440 --> 00:00:26,080
Hurricanes.
Our guest, Esther Ellis,
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00:00:26,080 --> 00:00:29,280
Territorial Epidemiologist for
the US Virgin Islands Department
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00:00:29,280 --> 00:00:32,320
of Health, shares how FIG
funding is transforming the
11
00:00:32,320 --> 00:00:36,160
territories health data systems
and why that matters far beyond
12
00:00:36,160 --> 00:00:40,720
technology.
We've utilized FIG funding most
13
00:00:40,720 --> 00:00:44,800
recently to support our data
modernization efforts and that's
14
00:00:44,800 --> 00:00:48,280
been really valuable.
We actually received FIG funding
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00:00:48,280 --> 00:00:53,240
in December of 2022 and we've
made data modernization efforts
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00:00:53,240 --> 00:00:58,440
a priority since the beginning.
We leveraged CDC funds such as
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00:00:58,440 --> 00:01:02,640
the Public Health Infrastructure
Grant, but also we've used CDC
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00:01:02,920 --> 00:01:06,680
epidemiology and laboratory
capacity or ELC funds to support
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00:01:06,680 --> 00:01:08,960
additional data monetization
efforts.
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00:01:10,360 --> 00:01:14,320
And one of those efforts has
been the electronic immunization
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database.
Can you describe this and and
22
00:01:16,560 --> 00:01:18,400
what have you done?
That's correct.
23
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So the electronic immunization
database, it's an immunization
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00:01:21,880 --> 00:01:26,200
database or information
immunization information system.
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A lot of people on immunization
call that IIS and it's a system
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00:01:30,600 --> 00:01:34,040
that records all vaccination
doses administered by
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00:01:34,280 --> 00:01:37,480
participating providers to
residents within a specific
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00:01:37,800 --> 00:01:40,960
geographical area.
That means for us in the Virgin
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Islands, our IIS system keeps
track of vaccination doses to
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everyone within the Virgin
Islands.
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Have you seen any early benefits
from the system?
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00:01:50,840 --> 00:01:56,240
Definitely many of the people on
this listening to this that are
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00:01:56,240 --> 00:01:59,680
aware with the Virgin Islands
though that we experienced 2CAT5
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00:01:59,680 --> 00:02:03,560
hurricanes in 2015.
Hurricanes are my Maria and
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00:02:04,560 --> 00:02:08,240
during that time we lost the
manual immunization database.
36
00:02:08,520 --> 00:02:11,480
And so the immunization program
wanted to move towards a cloud
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00:02:11,480 --> 00:02:14,480
based system which was
established in 2020.
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00:02:14,720 --> 00:02:17,360
And this system was able to
consolidate all of our
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00:02:17,360 --> 00:02:20,680
vaccination records from various
providers into a single secure
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00:02:20,680 --> 00:02:24,680
record, ensuring patients remain
up to date and protected against
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00:02:24,680 --> 00:02:29,080
vaccine preventable diseases.
And we are shifting that
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00:02:29,600 --> 00:02:32,680
electronic system into even more
modernized system.
43
00:02:32,920 --> 00:02:36,840
And that means really having an
electronic immunization database
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00:02:36,840 --> 00:02:39,920
positions our program here in
the Virgin Islands Department of
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00:02:39,920 --> 00:02:43,640
Health and a space that includes
vaccination as a crucial
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00:02:43,640 --> 00:02:46,440
component and or overall access
to healthcare.
47
00:02:46,760 --> 00:02:50,360
It allows patients to access
their vaccination data
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00:02:50,360 --> 00:02:53,440
regardless of what provider they
might have gone to, to get
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00:02:53,440 --> 00:02:57,480
vaccinated.
And that also allows us to work
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00:02:57,480 --> 00:03:00,840
towards figuring out who might
not be getting vaccinated so
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00:03:00,840 --> 00:03:04,000
that we can do targeted
education to vulnerable
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00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:08,200
populations.
And it also has allowed us to
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00:03:08,960 --> 00:03:11,600
determine an accurate
vaccination rate.
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00:03:12,160 --> 00:03:15,480
Some of the other benefits or
improvements we're seeing from
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00:03:15,480 --> 00:03:18,760
having this electronic
immunization database in place
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00:03:18,760 --> 00:03:22,560
is consumer access.
The system will benefit patients
57
00:03:22,560 --> 00:03:25,600
and families with centralized
records convenience.
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00:03:25,600 --> 00:03:29,160
It helps to identify when a
patient is due for a a dose or
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booster and prevents over
vaccination and interoperability
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00:03:34,760 --> 00:03:37,800
with other IAS systems in
several U.S. states.
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00:03:37,800 --> 00:03:40,800
And this really benefits
healthcare providers and it
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00:03:40,800 --> 00:03:45,000
allows physicians to quickly
assess if a patient is complete
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00:03:45,000 --> 00:03:47,600
because in their vaccination
history, because it it
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00:03:47,600 --> 00:03:51,880
consolidated the vaccination
history into one place and and
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00:03:51,880 --> 00:03:53,160
can talk to other states as
well.
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00:03:53,160 --> 00:03:56,160
So, you know, somebody here in
the Virgin Islands might have
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00:03:56,320 --> 00:03:59,320
had some of their vaccinations
done here, but then moves out of
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00:03:59,320 --> 00:04:04,400
the territory to a state And
that data will be complete in in
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00:04:04,400 --> 00:04:07,600
the system.
Also, data access in real time
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00:04:07,600 --> 00:04:10,200
when conducting community
outreach efforts.
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00:04:10,200 --> 00:04:13,760
For example, the data can assist
us This epidemiologist with
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00:04:13,800 --> 00:04:17,640
outbreak response allows us to
identify gaps in coverage in
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00:04:17,640 --> 00:04:19,839
certain populations.
Can you tell us a little bit
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00:04:19,839 --> 00:04:22,760
about the Electronic Cases
reporting portal?
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00:04:22,760 --> 00:04:24,200
Is this related to what you were
talking about?
76
00:04:24,360 --> 00:04:27,080
So we have been able to use FIG
funding to implement an
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00:04:27,080 --> 00:04:30,560
electronic case reporting web
portal for all notifiable
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00:04:30,560 --> 00:04:32,160
diseases.
That's been really valuable.
79
00:04:32,160 --> 00:04:34,920
We've been able to work with a
company called Hummingbird
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00:04:34,920 --> 00:04:39,040
Health and the system is called
Beacon, and the impact has been
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00:04:39,040 --> 00:04:42,480
really wonderful for our
providers as well As for us
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00:04:42,560 --> 00:04:45,880
epidemiologists and laboratories
who are collecting the data.
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00:04:46,040 --> 00:04:49,280
It's been really critical
because it makes it easier for
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00:04:49,280 --> 00:04:52,760
providers to submit reportable
diseases data and that improves
85
00:04:52,760 --> 00:04:56,040
our data completeness and
accuracy, also improves time
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00:04:56,280 --> 00:04:59,480
timeliness because they're able
to get it in really quickly
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00:04:59,480 --> 00:05:01,960
through the portal.
And additionally, providers need
88
00:05:01,960 --> 00:05:04,720
help getting a sample tested for
an infectious disease.
89
00:05:04,720 --> 00:05:06,560
They can request the testing on
the portal.
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00:05:06,560 --> 00:05:10,240
So it really has gone both ways
as far as making it really easy
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00:05:10,240 --> 00:05:12,360
for the providers as well As for
the laboratory if they're
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00:05:12,360 --> 00:05:15,400
receiving a sample and then from
the EPI side, getting all the
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00:05:15,400 --> 00:05:19,040
data.
And as you're, it strikes me
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00:05:19,040 --> 00:05:21,920
that, you know, you mentioned,
you mentioned the Hurricanes in
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00:05:21,920 --> 00:05:27,000
2015 being like 1-1, you know,
geographic challenge of the area
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00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:30,080
and you know, it kind of knocked
out your, your infrastructure
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00:05:30,080 --> 00:05:32,640
there for a little bit.
And I can absolutely see how
98
00:05:32,640 --> 00:05:36,040
these efforts are are really
necessary just to keep track of
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00:05:36,040 --> 00:05:38,280
everybody.
What other challenges do you
100
00:05:38,280 --> 00:05:41,360
deal with in in the islands?
I mean it's the structure of
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00:05:41,360 --> 00:05:43,360
them is so different than
stateside.
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00:05:43,600 --> 00:05:46,240
Yeah, a lot of challenges.
You know, we're geographically
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00:05:46,240 --> 00:05:48,680
isolated.
It's consists of four islands,
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00:05:48,680 --> 00:05:52,160
Saint Croix, Saint Thomas, St.
John or Water Island, and those
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00:05:52,160 --> 00:05:57,760
islands cover approximately 133
square miles of combined land
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00:05:57,760 --> 00:06:00,000
area.
So that's about twice the area
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00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:03,480
of the District of Columbia.
We're about 40 miles east of
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00:06:03,680 --> 00:06:05,240
Puerto Rico.
Everybody always knows where
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00:06:05,240 --> 00:06:09,600
Puerto Rico is and compared to,
you know, if we look at our
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00:06:09,600 --> 00:06:14,280
census data, our population is
about 87,000 residents.
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00:06:14,760 --> 00:06:18,320
But a lot of our challenges, not
only are we geographically
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00:06:18,320 --> 00:06:22,120
separated from the US mainland,
but we are geographically
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00:06:22,120 --> 00:06:24,880
separated from each other.
To get from Saint Croix to Saint
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00:06:24,880 --> 00:06:29,920
Thomas requires a flight or two
hour ferry and then Saint Thomas
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00:06:29,920 --> 00:06:33,120
to Saint John is about a 20 to
40 minute ferry and Water
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00:06:33,120 --> 00:06:36,040
Island's about a 5 minute boat
ride from Saint Thomas.
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00:06:36,040 --> 00:06:38,880
But that creates a lot of
challenges as far as access to
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00:06:38,880 --> 00:06:42,000
care.
We also have a very vulnerable
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00:06:42,000 --> 00:06:45,680
population when you look at
insurance.
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00:06:45,680 --> 00:06:51,960
So of our our population here,
according to the 2020 census,
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00:06:51,960 --> 00:06:56,920
the number of individuals
without insurance was 20,825.
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00:06:56,920 --> 00:07:00,560
So that's 25% of our population
does not have insurance and
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00:07:00,560 --> 00:07:05,320
that's actually three times the
national average.
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00:07:05,400 --> 00:07:08,720
And and that just kind of tells
you how much of A vulnerable
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00:07:08,720 --> 00:07:12,920
population we have here.
When you look at education as
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00:07:12,920 --> 00:07:17,960
well, about 38% of our residents
have at least a high school
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00:07:17,960 --> 00:07:21,080
diploma.
Well, only 22% have a bachelor's
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00:07:21,080 --> 00:07:23,600
degree or higher.
So again, our education is lower
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00:07:23,680 --> 00:07:26,120
when you compare it to national
averages.
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00:07:26,120 --> 00:07:30,320
And it really just means we need
to do more work here.
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00:07:30,320 --> 00:07:33,080
And I'll work a little harder
when it comes to educating our
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00:07:33,080 --> 00:07:36,640
population about the importance
of vaccines, the importance of
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00:07:36,640 --> 00:07:40,280
prevention of infectious
disease, surveillance efforts
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00:07:41,480 --> 00:07:43,520
and and all that.
The good thing with our
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00:07:43,520 --> 00:07:46,280
community is that the Virgin
Islands Department of Health is
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00:07:46,280 --> 00:07:48,240
a trusted source of health
information.
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00:07:48,480 --> 00:07:51,520
So that's really great.
We've worked hard to achieve
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00:07:51,520 --> 00:07:54,720
that.
And we do do a lot of outreach,
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00:07:54,840 --> 00:07:58,640
whether it's Facebook or radio
or newspaper or government
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00:07:58,640 --> 00:08:02,640
access channel to reach our
population and epidemiology.
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00:08:02,640 --> 00:08:07,560
We still go door to door
sometimes and, and just check
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00:08:07,560 --> 00:08:11,560
on, you know how, how like just
when we were doing the census to
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00:08:11,560 --> 00:08:14,600
door to door, when we're doing
like, let's say a disaster
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00:08:14,600 --> 00:08:16,880
response, like after the
Hurricanes, we were going door
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00:08:16,880 --> 00:08:19,680
to door to find out, you know,
how people were doing mental
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00:08:19,680 --> 00:08:22,880
health wise, how people were
doing as far as repairing their
147
00:08:22,880 --> 00:08:26,400
homes, access to food and water
and all those things.
148
00:08:26,400 --> 00:08:28,560
Especially after the Hurricanes,
because a lot of people didn't
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00:08:28,560 --> 00:08:29,960
have power.
So they didn't have power,
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00:08:29,960 --> 00:08:32,480
didn't have Internet.
It took a lot longer here, being
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00:08:32,480 --> 00:08:35,159
geographically isolated, to get
those things back up and running
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00:08:35,159 --> 00:08:36,960
again.
Absolutely.
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00:08:36,960 --> 00:08:39,400
And even just going from house
to house is challenging.
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00:08:39,400 --> 00:08:42,520
I mean, the, the infrastructure
itself, there's a lot of, you
155
00:08:42,520 --> 00:08:46,720
know, space between, between
plots and the roads themselves
156
00:08:46,840 --> 00:08:49,000
have a lot of mountainous
features involved.
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00:08:49,000 --> 00:08:53,360
It's it's that's a tough job for
for anyone in public service.
158
00:08:53,800 --> 00:08:56,560
Yes, definitely.
But it's a rewarding job because
159
00:08:57,440 --> 00:09:01,160
you see a direct impact on your
community because we are a small
160
00:09:01,160 --> 00:09:03,640
community.
So, you know, I'll run into
161
00:09:03,640 --> 00:09:07,400
someone at the grocery store
that was here during Zika and
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00:09:07,400 --> 00:09:09,960
was pregnant and we came to
their house to do mosquito
163
00:09:09,960 --> 00:09:12,680
control and they didn't get Zika
while they were pregnant.
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00:09:12,680 --> 00:09:13,880
And they're like, thank you so
much.
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00:09:14,200 --> 00:09:17,080
So it's really rewarding to
actually see the impact of our
166
00:09:17,080 --> 00:09:18,400
work here.
When we look at some of the
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00:09:18,400 --> 00:09:22,160
great public health work that we
do do and, and you know,
168
00:09:22,160 --> 00:09:25,200
bringing it back to
modernization, we can definitely
169
00:09:25,200 --> 00:09:27,720
see a direct impact on the
community when it comes to
170
00:09:27,720 --> 00:09:30,440
modernization because we can see
that more people are getting
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00:09:30,440 --> 00:09:34,480
tested for infectious diseases
that previously weren't because
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00:09:34,480 --> 00:09:38,520
of the access to free testing,
access to the portal.
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00:09:38,520 --> 00:09:42,520
So if it's easier for providers
who are very busy here, then
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00:09:42,840 --> 00:09:45,760
it's more likely that they're
going to participate and submit
175
00:09:45,760 --> 00:09:49,000
a sample for testing.
Do you have plans for for future
176
00:09:49,000 --> 00:09:52,080
growth of the system?
Yes, always, always plans to
177
00:09:52,080 --> 00:09:55,000
grow.
Funding is a major challenge for
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00:09:55,000 --> 00:09:59,400
us because if you think of the
health information systems and
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00:09:59,400 --> 00:10:02,920
you look at the expense, a lot
of times the cost is the same
180
00:10:02,920 --> 00:10:06,800
for a small population versus a
large population because it's
181
00:10:06,800 --> 00:10:11,680
the cost for the system and it's
not necessarily how many, how
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00:10:11,680 --> 00:10:15,600
many things are going into the
system, the volume, but it's
183
00:10:15,600 --> 00:10:18,600
really the the system that is
the cost.
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00:10:18,600 --> 00:10:21,960
So really the FIG funding has
made it possible to make a lot
185
00:10:21,960 --> 00:10:25,280
of long term progress because it
was received as a five year
186
00:10:25,280 --> 00:10:28,200
award.
And that was a really a success
187
00:10:28,200 --> 00:10:31,600
of the program to be a five year
cooperative agreement.
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00:10:31,640 --> 00:10:34,880
So that it gave jurisdictions,
territory, States and
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00:10:34,880 --> 00:10:40,120
territories time to to assess
what needed to be done to
190
00:10:40,120 --> 00:10:43,000
determine this is what we're
going to do to get a contract in
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00:10:43,000 --> 00:10:45,680
place to pay the vendors and
then to get the work done.
192
00:10:45,800 --> 00:10:49,080
And right now we're in the
getting the work done and I'm
193
00:10:49,080 --> 00:10:55,400
excited to continue this work.
Esther Ellis is territorial
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00:10:55,400 --> 00:10:58,360
epidemiologist for the US Virgin
Islands Department of Health.
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00:10:58,840 --> 00:11:00,320
This has been Public Health
Review.
196
00:11:00,320 --> 00:11:02,600
MORNING EDITION.
I'm John Sheehan for the
197
00:11:02,600 --> 00:11:05,320
Association of State and
Territorial Health Officials.