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Other clinics planned ... Hospital to hold free H1N1 clinic for kids
Friday, November 06, 2009
By Jeff Corcino Staff Writer
At a press conference yesterday, Clearfield Hospital announced it is having an additional H1N1 vaccination clinic Thursday for young children and gave additional details on the vaccination clinic it is holding this weekend for Clearfield Area school children.
The hospital announced it is having a vaccination clinic for H1N1, also known as swine flu, Thursday for all children age 6 months to 5 years at the Medical Arts Building. The time is tentatively scheduled for 3-7 p.m., but more details will be forthcoming in the coming days, according to Dr. Gregory Sheffo, chief medical officer of Clearfield Hospital. The vaccinations will be free of charge, Sheffo said.
This clinic will be open to children regardless where they live, in contrast to Saturday's clinic being held at the Clearfield Middle School, which is for K-12 students of the Clearfield Area School District, St. Francis and Clearfield Alliance School only. Saturday's H1N1 clinic is being held from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the school gymnasium.
Both clinics are free of charge, but all children must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.
The hospital is currently in the planning process of having vaccination clinics for other school districts in the area in the near future and hopes to have more information available within a week or so, Sheffo said.
Gerald Pollock, deputy director of Clearfield County Emergency Management, said the county is also planning to have mass vaccination clinics for the general public soon, but they currently do not know when enough vaccine will be made available for this to occur.
Sheffo said the hospital currently has a sufficient amount of vaccine on hand for the approximately 2,800 school-aged children eligible for vaccination this Saturday as well as the vaccination clinic next Thursday.
Children younger than 10 require two injections to receive sufficient immunity, and a second clinic will be scheduled in early December for these children.
There will be approximately 100 volunteers on hand for Saturday's vaccination clinic, including 20 Clearfield Hospital nurses who will be administering the vaccinations. School nurses, administrators and staff from all three schools will also be present to assist in the processing of students. Clearfield Emergency Medical Services will have an ambulance on hand, Clearfield Fire Police will provide traffic control and the state Department of Transportation will provide signage for the event, said Rebecca Short, CASD head nurse.
"It's impressive how well the community has come together to put on this event," Pollock said.
Sheffo urged all parents to have their children vaccinated for the H1N1 flu virus, especially young children because they are the most likely to have complications from the virus. Sheffo said the H1N1 vaccine is just as safe as the seasonal flu vaccine, and it is 90 percent effective in preventing the disease, according to Sue Stiner, infection prevention manager of Clearfield Hospital.
Because of the risk of complications, Sheffo said young children, pregnant women, and people with asthma or diabetes that contract the H1N1 virus should seek medical attention.
The H1N1 virus has similar symptoms as the seasonal flu; however, people with the H1N1 virus have a higher occurrence of gastrointestinal disorders such as diarrhea and vomiting, Sheffo said.
Like the seasonal flu, symptoms of H1N1 include fever, cough, sore throat, runny nose, body aches, headache and chills.
Because it is still early in the year for the seasonal flu, Sheffo said the vast majority of people with the flu currently likely have the H1N1 virus. Thus far the Clearfield Hospital has had 40 people test positive for H1N1 virus in laboratory testing. Out of these 40, four were admitted to the hospital but have since been discharged. Fortunately, thus far there haven't been any severe cases of H1N1 in the area, Sheffo said.
Sheffo said Clearfield Hospital hasn't seen a dramatic increase in the number of flu cases this year except that they are seeing more flu cases earlier than usual because the seasonal flu usually doesn't peak until after the holidays.
However, with the peak periods of seasonal flu soon to come, coupled with the appearance of the H1N1 flu this year, Sheffo said the hospital expects the situation to only get worse in the near future.
Dr. Richard Makin, superintendent of the Clearfield Area School District, said thus far the school district isn't experiencing an abnormal increase in the amount of absenteeism this year from the H1N1 flu, except that they are getting more flu cases earlier in the season. Makin urged parents not to send their children to school if they have a fever or flu-like symptoms.
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