Click here for links to superintendent's letter to parents, more information about Sept. 25, 2009 flu clinic for students
09/10/09
(updated 09/14/09)
Schools preparing flu immunization clinics for students
Cape Elizabeth is one of more than 720 school systems across the state that is planning to offer flu vaccinations to students this fall.
Because school-aged children are at highest risk for contracting and spreading the flu virus, particularly H1N1 ("swine flu"), the federal Cener for Disease Control and Prevention is recommending that vaccines against both seasonal and H1N1 flu be made available through schools.
Although participation in the immunization effort is not mandatory for school districts or for families, most systems across the state, including Cape Elizabeth, is participating, said Cape Superintendent Alan Hawkins.
The first of what may be three or four flu clinics for students is slated for Friday, Sept. 25. The School Department has enlisted Visiting Nurses Association based in Saco to provide and administer the seasonal (regular) flu vaccine.
Hawkins said information and signup forms will soon be going to families of school age children. State officials predict a 40-percent participation rate, Hawkins said.
At the School Board meeting held Sept. 8, 2009, Hawkins said he has been meeting weekly with a 15-member team of the department's nurses, the school physician, and administrators to go over the latest information and to plan for H1N1 flu and seasonal flu prevention.
Hawkins is also a member of a Cumberland County planning group at Maine Medical Center that has been preparing for H1N1.
Volunteers needed
The School Department has advertised for volunteers to help with the first clinic. Volunteers with a medical background and are qualified to give shots are welcome, but so are those willing to help with registration and record keeping. Mandatory training will be given to all who volunteer.
A target date of Sept. 25 has been set for the first clinic, but Hawkins said that may change. Specific times and location is also yet to be finalized
Ideally the schools would like to hold the clinic off site, and on a Friday early-release day so that parents of elementary age children could accompany their sons and daughters to the clinic. Hawkins said the department is steering clear of having school nurses do the innoculations, so that young children are not cofunsed about the role of a school nurse.
As of this week, Hawkins said he understood that the cost of the vaccine and related supplies and services would be paid for by the federal government. There is not supposed to be a cost to indivdiual families, but the role of private insurance is not yet clear, Hawkins said.
Children 9 and younger who have not received a seasonal flu vaccine in the past will need two doses, given four weeks apart. The School Department is also planning separate clinics for the H1N1 flu vaccine when it becomes available.
More details, as they become available, are scheduled to be posted on the school Web site.
Hawkins said this is the first time in recent memory that schools prepared to coordinate innoculations against a common disease. The last time, in his personal memory, was in the early 1950s when he and fellow kindergartners received the then-new polio vaccine.
Though details of Cape Elizabeth's upcoming student flu clinics are still in the works, Hawkins said the steps Cape Elizabeth is taking in this "new territory" will ensure it's done right. Through the weekly, 15-member "flu group" meetings, his participation at the county level at Maine Medical Center, and attendance at the state's H1N1 flu summit held in Augusta last month, "I think we will have one of the best organized and planned programs for this process," Hawkins said.
Previous stories:
|
Subscribe
