Award-winning toolkit empowers rural Ohioans to make informed health care decisions

When the first COVID-19 vaccine rolled out in late 2020, discourse around vaccines exploded like never before.  

As the safety and efficacy of the vaccine were called into question, health care professionals faced a new challenge. How could they promote the vaccine in a manner that resonated with everyday Ohioans? 

This is where an interprofessional team from The Ohio State University Extension and College of Pharmacy came into play.

Since 1914, Ohioans have leaned on OSU Extension for education, resources and community support. Throughout Ohio’s 88 counties, OSU Extension maintains a network of educators tied to the university. Their expertise covers a broad range of topics, from agricultural science to fine arts. These educators live in Ohio communities, tuning in to how university research and resources can advance solutions to local problems. 

“OSU Extension is truly the heartbeat of Ohio State,” said Myriam Shaw Ojeda, PharmD, MPH, assistant professor at the College of Pharmacy and OSU Extension. “As a land-grant institution, the university is committed to pouring back into our communities. OSU Extension is the outreach arm that gets that done.” 

As it became apparent that rural populations were facing community health consequences due to low vaccination rates, the OSU Extension team leapt into action. Through a grant from the Extension Foundation funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the USDA - National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), the team crafted the Extension Collaborative on Immunization Teaching and Engagement (EXCITE) vaccine toolkit. 

“What initiated the EXCITE vaccine project was that we heard voices in our communities overwhelmed by all of the information and misinformation spreading in the midst of COVID-19 vaccine rollouts,” Dr. Shaw Ojeda said. “The toolkit was a welcome collaboration between OSU Extension and the College of Pharmacy, as it allowed us to leverage pharmacy expertise for community health.” 

Dr. Shaw Ojeda's dual appointment at the College of Pharmacy and OSU Extension has enabled her to develop several public health initiatives for communities across the state of Ohio, leveraging Extension’s community connections. These programs range from vaccine education to smoking cessation, informed by the needs of Ohioans. 

“Every time OSU Extension launches a new project—regardless of the topic—we return to the question, ‘Does the community need this?’” said Dr. Shaw Ojeda. 

The EXCITE toolkit was co-developed by Dr. Shaw Ojeda and Daniel Remley, PhD, field specialist and assistant professor of human ecology at OSU Extension. Drs. Shaw Ojeda and Remley received assistance from OSU Extension community partners, pharmacy students and AmeriCorps volunteers. 

“The EXCITE toolkit was introduced with the goal of providing preliminary education to communities expressing vaccine hesitancy,” Dr. Remley said. “We wanted to get to know our communities and equip them with educational tools and information that would allow them to make this decision for their health in an informed manner.”   

The team targeted 15 rural counties to develop and implement the toolkit. Through initial surveys of these populations, individuals frequently reported concerns about finding health care resources they could trust.   

“Thanks to Ohio State’s established presence as a trusted institution across the state, we were positioned to create a resource that community members could confidently utilize,” Dr. Shaw Ojeda noted. 

The toolkit became a one-stop shop where OSU Extension could redirect users to reliable resources on the most common concerns surrounding vaccines. Resources hosted on the toolkit site were only used if they utilized accessible language and spoke to the Extension team’s community interactions. 

“As pharmacists, it’s easy to nerd-out and throw all of the fascinating science of why vaccines work at our patients,” Dr. Shaw Ojeda admitted with a laugh. “But that’s not going to connect with someone who isn’t in health care and is making an important personal health decision.” 

OSU Extension’s strong presence in these rural areas provided an opportunity for the team to regularly engage with community members and educators to identify the biggest questions for individuals and find nuanced ways of presenting information. 

“With our OSU Extension team ingrained in the communities we serve, we were able to really personalize the toolkit,” Dr. Shaw Ojeda said. “Our educators and community partners kept those of us from the college focused on appropriate language for the population, and they would check in with community members as a sounding board throughout the design process.” 

One major effect of this back-and-forth was the toolkit’s expansion from website to print material.  

Older community members in the target counties spoke to OSU Extension educators about their preference for physical material, so pharmacy students and AmeriCorps volunteers on the EXCITE team converted the kit's information to a series of flyers and brochures. Today, they’re used at local events and are kept on-hand in many partner pharmacies. 

“Every project teaches us something new about the populations we serve,” Dr. Remley reflected. “The state of Ohio is not a monolithic block. It’s important that we maintain relationships with our communities and really make sure that we’re catering to the needs of different demographics and lifestyles.” 

Since its launch in June 2023, the project has documented over 4,000 community touchpoints via virtual events, direct outreach and media dissemination. The EXCITE Vaccine toolkit has been distributed across those initial 15 rural counties to support OSU Extension educators in promoting health care literacy and facilitating community-level conversations.  

The toolkit has received national attention. In October 2025, the Ohio State toolkit placed second in the central region for the “Communications: Internet Education Technology” category in the annual National Extension Association of Family and Consumer Sciences (NEAFCS) awards. 

Looking to the future, the EXCITE team will continue implementing the existing resources and is finding ways to apply their outreach tools to other health care topics.  

“Our mission at OSU Extension is to provide evidence-based information to help people improve their lives,” Dr. Remley said. “By providing the people we serve with resources to make informed choices about their health, we are driving that mission forward.”