Flu clinic, emergency exercise
First District holds Point of Dispensing exercise and flu clinicBy KATINA TENGESDAL, Staff Writer ktengesdal@minotdailynews.com
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First District Health Unit of Minot held a Point of Dispensing exercise and flu shot clinic Monday at the Minot Municipal Auditorium to practice how they would run a mass vaccination clinic in the event of a public health emergency.
"We have two objectives, first of all, to vaccinate for flu like we always do, and second, to meet our preparedness objective," said Penny Hamilton, director of nursing for First District Health Unit.
"If there was a mass need for drug dispensing or vaccines, we would have a way to process people quickly. For example, in an anthrax attack, we would have to have pills in everybody in the community within 48 hours," said Jose Estrada, emergency preparedness and response coordinator for First District Health.
During the first hour of the clinic, staff tracked how many people were able to get their flu shots. During the hour, 227 individuals went through the clinic.
"This is the process we would use in an emergency situation where we needed to vaccinate people quickly. People have made the comment that this is the best flu shot they've ever gotten, because it has gone so quickly," said Lisa Clute, CEO for First District Health.
The flu clinic began with a registration and insurance area, where participants worked out the billing for their vaccinations. In a real Point of Dispensing clinic, however, there wouldn't be an initial registration.
"There are four simple steps. You fill out a form, show the form, turn in the form, and exit," Estrada said.
Participants at a Point of Dispensing clinic are first asked by triage if they feel OK, and are asked to fill out a simple form about any allergies or other conditions. At that point, if there was any question about them feeling ill or if there were other issues, they would be sent to a medical counselor. Triage serves the purpose of keeping the ill away from the healthy.
"In a true flu epidemic, we wouldn't want to vaccinate people who already have influenza. We want to keep the well population segregated from the ill. The ill wouldn't be going all the way through (the clinic)," Hamilton said.
Participants then show their form, and if there are no questions about their health, they get in line for vaccination. At Monday's clinic, six nurses worked in six different cubicles to vaccinate the participants. In an event where pills would be distributed, Estrada explained, participants in a Point of Dispensing clinic would be able to pick up medication for themselves and up to 10 people.
After they have been vaccinated, participants turn in their forms, and they have the opportunity to pick up educational information.
"The way the CDC puts it, we screen them, medicate them, and educate them," Estrada said.
This year's Point of Dispensing exercise was planned by a group at First District Health Unit, who took into account the experiences of nurses who give flu shots annually at clinics. Last year, about 800 people got flu shots on the first day of the clinic.
