FARMINGTON — It didn’t take long for Mike and Linda Collins of Farmington Falls to get their H1N1(swine flu) shot Monday in the Bass Room at Franklin Memorial Hospital.
“I didn’t even feel it,” he said, while waiting a few minutes after the shot for any medical response.
The couple attended the clinic hosted by FMH that was available to anyone and everyone, said organizer Pam Hadley, infection prevention and employee health nurse manager at FMH.
This was the first of a series of clinics being offered at FMH for those wanting the vaccine, regardless of age. Perhaps the best part, there is no charge for those who are uninsured or whose insurance does not cover the full cost of the vaccine.
The hospital now has a good amount of vaccines and is responding to a request by the Maine Center for Disease Control to offer the clinics, Hadley said.
“We may have developed a false sense of security thinking the H1N1 has come and gone but we’ll probably see another wave of it,” she said adding that we haven’t really even gotten into flu season. Her advice was to be sure to get the flu shot now.
Monday’s clinic will be followed by a clinic from 5 to 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 27, and one from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 29. Next week, clinics will be held from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Feb. 3 and 4. All clinics are held in the Bass Room at FMH.
A followup clinic for children under the age of 10, who require a second dose of the vaccine, will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. on March 3.
Volunteers from the hospital staff and community volunteers, school nurses and emergency personnel from NorthStar Ambulance were helping with the clinic.
For more information, contact Hadley at 779-2508. The Franklin Community Health Network’s flu hotline available for updates about local seasonal flu and H1N1 and public flu shot clinics can be reached at 779-3147. Information can also be found online at www.fchn.org/news/flu-updates.
abryant@sunjournal.com
Mike Collins of Farmington Falls completes questions for an H1N1 flu shot Monday during a clinic at Franklin Memorial Hospital in Farmington.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.