Washtenaw County swine flu clinic: Wristbands, additional volunteers part of strategy
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The Washtenaw County Public Health Department plans to hand out wristbands to eligible residents as part of its plan to avoid long waits and confusion in line at a mass swine flu vaccination clinic in Ypsilanti on Thursday.
The vaccination clinic for the highest priority groups in the county will begin at 10 a.m. at the Eastern Michigan University Convocation Center.
The county also plans to have more volunteers to help at the clinic and has scheduled a second vaccination clinic for Nov. 14. A location and time has not yet been announced for that clinic.
The county's first swine flu vaccine clinic was flooded with local residents.
Tina Reed | AnnArbor.com
The added measures tomorrow are part of the county health department's strategy to get the limited amount of vaccine for the swine flu virus, or the H1N1 flu, to the highest priority residents with limited problems.
“We are looking forward to a smooth, safe and efficient process on Thursday,” Diana Torres-Burgos, the county's public health medical director, said in a release. “We are doing everything possible to reach those most at risk with the H1N1 vaccine we have available."
Wristbands will be handed out at the Convocation Center on Thursday morning to those who are part of the high priority groups. Those wrist bands will correspond with two-hour time slots at the clinic.
Those who get wristbands can choose to wait or return at the appointed time for their vaccine.
Those arriving will not be allowed in the building until about 9 a.m. The vaccines will be given until 7 p.m., or until the last person with a wristband is vaccinated.
Those in the highest priority groups are:
- Pregnant women.
- Children between the ages of 6 months and 4 years.
- Caregivers of children younger than 6 months.
- Children between the ages of 5 and 18 who have medical conditions that put them at higher risk of having serious complications from the flu.
- Health workers who are involved directly in patient care and have some sort of work identification.
The county has said it will have 4,000 doses of vaccine available to the highest priority groups when it holds the clinic Thursday. That's up from 1,000 doses it had at its first vaccine clinic last week.
The county health department decided to retool its plan for distributing doses of the vaccine after that clinic was flooded with concerned parents and their children, and other members of the highest priority groups interesting in receiving the vaccine.
Many stood in line for hours, some were turned away and parking became a problem in that smaller location.
The clinic is available by walk-in only. The county will not have a preservative-free, injectable version of the H1N1 vaccine available.
Last week in Washtenaw County, there were about 70 lab-confirmed cases of the flu. That was up from about 45 the previous week. About 99 percent of the cases of confirmed flu virus are the H1N1 flu virus and not the seasonal flu virus.
There have been 31 hospitalizations of county residents due to the H1N1 flu since Aug 30, 15 of which were last week. There have been no deaths of county residents due to H1N1.
Yesterday, Huron Valley Catholic School in Ypsilanti announced it would close for the week after it experienced a greater than 30 percent absenteeism rate due to flu-like illness at the school.
These statistics, coupled with the prevalence of flu-like illness reported in the schools, show high spread rate of H1N1 within the county, officials say.
Those who have more detailed questions are being asked to contact the county health educators or nurses by calling 734-544-6700.
• In the news today: What's happening with the H1N1 virus
Tina Reed covers health and the environment for AnnArbor.com. You can reach her at tinareed@annarbor.com, call her at 734-623-2535 or find her on Twitter @TreedinAA.
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yep, wristbands will solve the problem and make people healthy.
letssee...i got a wristband i'll sell ya...
(Flag this Post)
Posted Nov 4
@dading -
The plan is to hand wristbands out on site, so that people don't have to stand in line waiting. I.e. if you get there at 9am and you're scheduled for a 2pm slot you get a wristband and come back then rather than camping out waiting.
a story on how this works:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2009/10/30/ottawa-vaccine-wristbands-h1n1-clinics.html
The City of Ottawa has developed a system that will let residents wait at home instead of in cold lineups to get their H1N1 shots, but not everyone is happy with the idea.
Dr. Isra Levy, Ottawa's chief medical officer of health, announced Thursday that the city will issue single-use, non-transferable wristbands that indicate just what time each person should be at the clinic for her or his shot.
But the new wristbands were also causing some frustration Friday as people had to wait several hours just to get one.
"They have to be able to do something better than this," said Kanata resident Christina Ireland as she waited at the Kanata Recreation Complex in Ottawa's west end.
"It's complete chaos. As far as I'm concerned, it makes the city look really bad," said Amadeo Melone.
AnnArbor.com Staff
(Flag this Post)
Posted Nov 4
instead of handing out wristbands why not make everyone call a few days before the clinic opens and book appointments like you do with your doctor. That why your not waiting in the cold with small children. Seems pretty simple to me.
(Flag this Post)
Posted Nov 4
Wow, I think I'm at a greater risk waiting with all these people to get the vaccine than I am simply avoiding the whole situation!
This is an improvement, but still can't be used by anyone with a JOB! I would like to get the vaccine as I have a 4 month old, but I'm not going to take a sick day in order to get it.
(Flag this Post)
Posted Nov 4
Another flu wristband story, from Waterloo, Ontario, CANADA:
http://news.therecord.com/News/Local/article/623409
WATERLOO REGION – Residents going to local H1N1 clinics will get a numbered wristband to avoid waiting in long line-ups in the cold and rain, Dr. Liana Nolan, the region’s medical officer of health said Monday.
Beginning this afternoon at the public health immunization clinic, numbered wristbands will be given to people as they arrive.
AnnArbor.com Staff
(Flag this Post)
Posted Nov 4
Hudson, Ohio (near Akron) is also using wristbands:
http://www.ohio.com/news/66791132.html
HUDSON: For pregnant women and parents in Summit County on Tuesday, pink wristbands and laminated number cards were the hottest tickets in town.
More than 2,200 people lined up at Hudson Community Chapel to get one of the first publicly available H1N1 flu vaccines in the region.
AnnArbor.com Staff
(Flag this Post)
Posted Nov 4
Does anyone have a brain left?
Just distribute the stuff like normal. If you gotta wait, you wait. In 2-3 weeks we'll be joking about the stupidity of this stampede! I witnessed the traffic debacle and it wasn't pretty!
It's not like it's anything important like a football or world series ticket or anything. Geez
(Flag this Post)
Posted Nov 4
Lets see uhhmm population of Wash. county about 347,000....
Throw out say 47k and change who don't want the shot...ummm leaves about 300k bodies to vaccinate... So at 4000 shots a week ...calculating...ummm about 75 weeks ,,,calculating... ummm 1 year and 23 weeks ... 23 weeks equals about 5.75 months...calculating...I should be safe about April 27, 2011! Whewww I was worried!
I realize it is not the fault of the health department but I would think they would try to come up with a better system IF the darn vaccine becomes available. I would think about calling out the National Guard and any available area Army MASH units and work them around the clock if this is the emergency being claimed. Line up alphabetically per documented last name on specified days when it becomes available (???) to the general population. You need a better system. Multiply this by all the US counties facing the same dilemma.... I think it is already a FAIL because of the delay of the vaccine. Sorry my glass is only 1% full at present.
(Flag this Post)
Posted Nov 4
Swine Flu is just a mild case of the flu. Why is everyone panicing? oh yeah I remember now because they are believing what dictator obama is saying to them. There are so many holes in his plan at martial law that it is not funny. Swine flu is government made and government approved. Why do you think it only took the FDA less than 2 months to approve it? Wanna know the real truth about swine flu and the flu? Go to http://www.infowars.com and read what is being posted over there. Your local media nor Fox, CNN, MSNBC are all controled by the government and will not tell you the truth about anything. People this is about martial law that is what its about. Dictator obama does not care about the USA, he will sign off on our soverignty when he goes to Copenhagen and signs the climate treaty, which if you have not read I highly suggest that you do. I have and its a piece of crap. Global warming is a big hoax. Those of you that grew up in the late sixties through the seventies know what I'm talking about back then it was not global warming but global cold.....Your government is a complete hoax. When will you wake up and see it? The flu shot and the swine flu shots are killing people, causing neurological disorders etc....WAKE UP PEOPLE!!!
(Flag this Post)
Posted Nov 4
Yes, and I heard they put chips in the heads of all the scientists years ago. That explains everything.
(Flag this Post)
Posted Nov 5