Free flu vaccines were given to 5,057 residents throughout Louisiana during the first hour of the state’s mass vaccination effort.

“We are very pleased with the turnout today,” said Dr. Roxane Townsend, DHH secretary. “By participating, citizens will be better prepared for the upcoming flu season, and our agency will be better prepared to respond if an emergency ever requires us to open up sites to dispense medications.”

Townsend said the drill is designed to test the health departments ability to alert people to an emergency situation, identify and prepare a Point of Dispensing site (POD site) where medicines can be given to the general public, recruit medical volunteers and record and track the number of people served. The exercise is a requirement of a federal grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“Although we have been planning for this day for several months, we should now have the resources and the experience to quickly open up sites such as these and properly staff them,” added Townsend.

First hour results from the nine locations are listed below:

Alexandria
428 shots
Alexandria Senior High School
800 Ola Lane

Baton Rouge
591 shots
Bon Carre Business Center
7173 Florida Boulevard

Hammond
549 shots
Woodland Park Baptist Church
1909 J.W. Davis Dr.

Lafayette
258 shots
St. Edmond Family Center
4131 W. Congress Street

Lake Charles
413 shots
Glad Tidings Church
3400 Texas Street

Monroe
508 shots
First Baptist Church
500 Pine Street

New Orleans
694 shots
University of New Orleans
Recreation and Fitness Center

Shreveport
843 shots
Summer Grove Baptist Church
8924 Jewella Avenue

Thibodaux
773 shots
Thibodaux Civic Center
310 North Canal Boulevard

753 Department of Health and Hospitals Office of Public Health employees and 185 volunteers are working at the nine regional Point of Dispensing sites around the state to provide the general public with the seasonal flu vaccine.

Alexandria
61 DHH-OPH
34 Volunteers

Baton Rouge
91 DHH-OPH
9 Volunteers

Hammond
98 DHH-OPH
13 Volunteers

Lafayette
68 DHH-OPH
22 Volunteers

Lake Charles
58 DHH-OPH
25 Volunteers

Monroe
44 DHH-OPH
23 Volunteers

New Orleans
151 DHH-OPH
23 Volunteers

Shreveport
57 DHH-OPH
6 Volunteers

Thibodaux
79 DHH-OPH
30 Volunteers

Submitted by Rob Anderson. Filed under Flu

Comments

I am interested in learning more about the operational aspects of the mass influenza immunization clinic exercise- I heard Dr Frank Welch speak on this event at the National Immunization Conference and was extremely impressed with the success of this exercise. I am a nursing supervisor of child health and immunization staff with the Division of Public Health in Delaware. I am assigned a leadership role in the operations section of our emergency preparedness exercises. Our staff held a one-site mass flu clinic as our emergency preparedness exercise this year- it was not paperless. Please send me the contact information on anyone that may share operation related plans,reports, etc.
Janet Baxley on April 3rd, 2008

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