CARES Team

About the Program

Category: Civic Education and Public Information (Best in Category)

Year: 2023

The CARES Team is an award-winning unit within the Maricopa County Department of Public Health (MCDPH) that expanded from its initial design as a “Call Center” into what is now a full-service community relationship building initiative. In 2022, the CARES Team won an award for its work securing over 35,000 immunization appointments for children and adults, with a focus on underserved and harder to reach communities. A second award followed in 2023 for the MPox (Monkeypox) response, during which the team communicated MCDPH guidance to over 30,000 community members, and scheduled over 8000 MPox vaccine appointments. Like many teams that were created during the COVID response, the Maricopa County Department of Public Health (MCDPH) CARES Team – initially known as the “Call Center” - was designed as a short-term solution to provide community members with information and guidance. Once the team was established it became clear that having a “conversation with the community” can pay big dividends both in outflow of trusted health information and inflow of topics the community is concerned about on any given day. The CARES Team has become a valued unit within MCDPH for its ability to provide trusted information and resources in support of a healthy community.