With the last ’flu shot clinic of the year being held today at the Northwestern Health Unit, and only one more planned for January, public health nurse Cindy McKinnon is looking forward to a rest.
“We’re hoping the ’flu shot clinic on Jan. 15 is a ‘last call’ . . . clinic for everyone,” McKinnon remarked, after noting the health unit has administered 50 percent more doses of the vaccine in the past couple of months than it did all last fall and winter.
“As of Dec. 19, we’ve administered 12,458 doses; 4,324 of those have been in the Rainy River District, including Atikokan,” she said, adding the health unit has distributed 34,254 doses of vaccine—5,000 more than the last ’flu season—in the Kenora-Rainy River districts and 12,037 in this district (including Atikokan).
McKinnon said the health unit has been going through a lot of the vaccine, but hasn’t yet run into a problem getting more from its supplier.
The health unit initially was going to wrap up its ’flu shot clinics on Dec. 4. But the high demand for vaccinations prompted it to extend that date to Dec. 9.
That was extended yet again, with more clinics being held at the health unit’s office on Scott Street all last week as well as yesterday and today.
“It’s great people are getting ’flu shots. The problem is the push for them has come after the open public clinics we had earlier,” McKinnon noted. “We’re hoping people will remember this next year and they’ll get their ’flu shots early.”
To make an appointment for the final ’flu shot clinic slated Jan. 15, call the health unit 274-9827.
While some cases of the ’flu have manifested in the community, McKinnon noted there’s been no outbreaks at local institutions like La Verendrye Hospital or Rainycrest Home for the Aged.
“They’re required to tell us if there is, and with the exception of Lake of Woods Hospital, there’s been nothing,” McKinnon said. “And the visiting ban at Lake of the Woods was lifted Dec. 15.”
Riverside Health Care Facilities, Inc. is not currently enforcing its mask-wearing policy for all visitors of patients at its facilities in Fort Frances, Emo, and Rainy River.
But emergency patients with respiratory symptoms still are required to wear masks.
And families and friends of residents there should stay away from the district hospitals if they are feeling unwell, and also are encouraged to be vaccinated.
This same policy applies at Rainycrest Home for the Aged.
Dr. Pete Sarsfield, CEO and medical officer of health for the local health unit, previously said the strain of vaccine currently being administered by the health unit and area health care facilities will provide some protection against the types of influenza now making their way through North America.
It’s expected that 75 percent of all illnesses due to ’flu this season will be of the A Fujian strain while the other 25 is the A Panama—the latter of which the vaccine contains.
But Dr. Sarsfield noted A Panama and A Fujian are, in fact, related, and therefore about 50 percent of the people—assuming they’re not in a high-risk group—who got the vaccine this year will not get the ’flu if exposed to it while the other half only will experience minor symptoms.
He noted the vaccine is “extremely safe,” and the great majority of those who get it will not get sick, but may only experience a soreness in the arm they got their shot in or mild nausea for a day or two afterwards.
(Fort Frances Times)
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
