Legacy Salmon Creek Medical Center more than doubled the number of free flu vaccines it provided to the community this year.
In November 2014, the hospital provided 415 flu shots at a four-hour clinic. This year, the medical center set up tables in the lobby throughout the month of November and hosted another one-day clinic on Friday. Combined, those efforts resulted in more than 1,000 flu shots being administered to patients, visitors, community members and employees.
“We want to keep our communities very healthy,” said Courtney Freeman, a health education specialist at Legacy Salmon Creek.
Legacy Health offered free flu vaccines at each of its five hospital campuses this past week. On Friday, employees at Legacy Salmon Creek Medical Center were offering a variety of flu immunizations — traditional, intradermal, high-dose and egg-free shots and nasal mist — and Tdap (tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis) boosters.
During the four-hour event Friday afternoon, Legacy Salmon Creek employees provided 93 flu immunizations.
The efforts to immunize people throughout the month of November resulted in about 4,000 vaccines being administered at the five Legacy hospitals. About 1,000 of those immunizations were given at the Salmon Creek hospital.
Sherry Hall of Vancouver heard about Friday’s flu shot clinic through her son’s middle school. She and her husband brought their two kids to the event, and all four received flu vaccines.
“I’m starting Clark (College) in January, so I’m afraid to get sick,” Hall said.
Hall and her family get vaccinated against the flu every year, she said.
“I grew up getting it,” Hall said. “My dad made me get it, so it was something I always did with my kids.”
Ewa North of Vancouver brought her 3-year-old son Felix and her child care provider Dominiqa Sagan, 20, to get flu shots Friday afternoon. The three got immunized to protect North’s youngest child, 4-month-old Emmett, from getting ill. Emmett is too young to be immunized.
“We’re all just trying to make sure we don’t get this little guy sick,” she said.
Sagan has been in the U.S. only three weeks. She’ll be in Vancouver for the next year through a cultural exchange program. Sagan also received a whooping cough booster at Friday’s event — again, to protect little Emmett.
This was the first flu shot for Sagan, but North, her husband and son receive flu shots every year.
“People say it doesn’t work, but I swear by it,” North said.
Little flu activity
So far, flu activity has remained low across the U.S., with only sporadic cases in Washington. Clark County Public Health is reporting no flu activity locally.
In past years, local flu activity has been highest in late December and January, though it can peak as late as March and April, as it did a few years ago, according to county flu data. State and local health officials are urging people to get vaccinated now — before the virus begins circulating in communities.
Health officials recommend annual influenza immunizations for anyone 6 months or older. The vaccine usually takes about two weeks before it’s fully protective.
So far, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data suggest this year’s vaccines are a good match to the viruses circulating in the U.S.
