Health officials offer flu vaccination clinics around area

The latest campaign in Southeast Missouri focuses on health, specifically keeping the flu at bay.

During the 2007-2008 flu season, 30,978 Missourians suffered from the illness -- almost twice the number who got sick a year earlier.

Health officials in Cape Girardeau, Scott and Bollinger counties are already prepared to help people stay healthy this year, offering influenza vaccination clinics. Cape Girardeau and Bollinger counties are taking it one step further, going right to the polling places Nov. 4.

"We have four registered nurses here and four precincts in Bollinger County," said Sandy Chaney, R.N., of the Bollinger County Health Department. "We'll try to hit those precincts and set up for people. This is something new ... just to get people aware of what they can do."

Cape Girardeau County will also join the program, called Vote & Vax, a nationwide program to make getting the vaccine more convenient.

According to Cape Girardeau County Clerk Kara Clark, voters shouldn't worry about the vaccine program disrupting the election process. Though the county is working with the health department on the program, at this point, the vaccinations would only be offered at the A.C. Brase Arena Building.

"The nurses will be in a separate location in the same facility," Clark said. "Nobody but the voters will be allowed in the polling location."

ELIZABETH DODD ~ edodd@semissourian.com Scott County Health Department has about 1400 doses of flu vaccines ready to give during this flu season.

She said nurses will be stationed near the Arena Building's rear entrance and kitchen area.

Nurse practitioner Kay Griffin said Scott County is not planning to participate because the vaccine arrived early and, with five nurses, "we don't have enough staff to go to all the places."

Each county will also host vaccine clinics. Scott County has already immunized close to 400 people, Griffin said, and is ready to administer 1,100 more vaccinations. She said clinics have been held at the Chaffee Nutrition Center and Riverside Regional Library.

"Everyone needs to be vaccinated," Griffin said. "The flu doesn't care who you are or what age you are."

But some people are more likely to contract the virus: children, the elderly, and those with chronic conditions, such as heart disease, diabetes, asthma and other disorders. Griffin said healthy family members should get vaccinated to add a layer of protection to those who cannot get the shots -- babies younger than 6 months old and people who are allergic to eggs.

Though Cape Girardeau County won't begin shot clinics until Oct. 15, La Deva Enderle, R.N., with Cape Girardeau County's health department, said that still allows plenty of time to build immunity before the flu season peak, typically between January and March.

The flu is a virus spread by coughing, sneezing or runny noses. Symptoms include fever, cough, sore throat, headache, chills, muscle aches and fatigue. Nationally, 226,000 Americans land in the hospital with extreme cases of the flu, which last year was blamed for 36,000 deaths.

"Sometimes when they get sick, it develops into pneumonia," Chaney said. The most severely affected are elderly and young people, because they don't have the ability to effectively cough mucous out of their lungs, she said.

Cape Girardeau County flu shots will be offered from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Oct. 15 at the Osage Community Centre, 1625 Kings-highway in Cape Girardeau; for details, call 335-7846, extension 3. Scott County's next clinic is 8:30 to 11 a.m. Friday at the Illmo Senior Center, 105 E. Hickory St. in Scott City; call 573-471-4044 for details. Bollinger County residents can get immunized at a clinic Oct. 23 at the health center, 107 Highway 51 North, Marble Hill; call 573-238-2817 to learn more. Cape Girardeau and Scott counties charge $20 per shot, except for those insured through Medicare; Bollinger County is charging donations for those without Medicare.

The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services has a page on influenza and clinic locations at www.dhss.mo.gov/Influenza. For more information on the Vote & Vax program, visit www.voteandvax.org.

pmcnichol@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 127

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