HEALTH OFFICES Flu shot clinics do OK in a pinch

Health departments gave nearly 6,000 shots.
By WILLIAM K. ALCORN
VINDICATOR HEALTH WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Despite a shortage of flu vaccine in some areas, everyone eligible for a flu shot who showed up at recent city and Mahoning County health department clinics received a shot, officials said.
The Mahoning County District Board of Health gave 2,265 doses Oct. 22 at a clinic in Canfield and 2,445 shots Tuesday at Mr. Anthony's in Boardman. An additional 1,000 shots were available for today's county health department clinic from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Highway Tabernacle Church, 3000 S. Raccoon Road in Austintown, said Diana M. Colaianni, director of the nursing division.
City inoculates all
On Thursday, the city health department inoculated between 800 and 900 people at its offices at 345 Oak Hill Ave., said Neil Altman, city health commissioner.
Although the county health department screened people under public health guidelines, Altman said his department gave a shot to anyone who wanted one.
Colaianni said the only people turned away at the county clinics were 15 or 20 each day who did not fit within the public health priority guidelines for high-risk individuals.
Under guidelines issued by the Centers for Disease control and Prevention, those most at risk include children ages 6 months to 23 months; adults ages 65 years and older; those ages 2 to 64 with certain chronic medical conditions; women who will be pregnant during the flu season; children ages 6 months to 18 years on chronic aspirin therapy; and out-of-home caregivers and household contacts of children ages 6 months or less.
Outside of some mostly good-natured grumbling because of long waits during the first few hours of the clinics, all went well, health officials said.
Volunteers help
Colaianni said she was grateful for the volunteers from the county health department and community who helped the process go smoothly.
She said the Boardman and Canfield police provided security and traffic control, and personnel from Turning Point Counseling Services, Catholic Charities, Help Hotline and the Mahoning County Mental Health Board helped with screening to prevent a bottleneck in that area.
About 95 percent of the people who wanted shots fell within the high priority groups and about 85 percent were senior citizens, said Matthew Stefanak, Mahoning County health commissioner. He said people came to the county clinic from as far away as Ashtabula and Hermitage, Pa. He said some people came to the site several hours before the clinic began at 9 a.m., and so had long waits. However, by 10:30 a.m., waits were between 15 and 30 minutes.
Longer waits
At the city clinic, the waits were a little longer, according to some of the people in line.
Daisy Mack of Youngstown said she arrived at 8:30 a.m. for the 9 a.m. clinic and had to wait about 2 1/2 hours.
Mary Ellen Fink of Canfield said at 11:30 a.m. that she had already waited two hours and expected to wait some time longer before getting her shot.
Dorothy Lind and Neva Morgan, both of Struthers, said they were at the city health department clinic because their doctors could not get the flu vaccine.
alcorn@vindy.com