School Based Flu Clinics

The Visiting Nurse Association & Hospice provides health care in an ethically responsible, affordable, caring, and professional manner. The department of Community Services, focuses on providing traveling clinics to maintain a community healthy. School Based Flu Clinics were implemented under the Community Services department. These clinics address the excessive number of Monterey County residents becoming ill from influenza (flu) each flu season. The project was an event that immunized the community as well as provided education, about the importance of the flu shot. The four clinics, were open to the public, targeting students, parents, friends, and district employees. Flu vaccine was administered by a nurse at no cost. There were volunteers and nurses answering questions. Outcomes were measured through the number of consent forms collected; this identified about 1,350 Monterey County residents who received protection from the flu. One hundred twenty questionnaires showed that about 40% learned something new about the flu, 100% were satisfied with the service, were extremely important barriers to receiving the influenza vaccine were: cost, location, and time, and 57% learned about the flu clinics through school marketing and 43% learned about them through the VNA flyer. Based on results, it is recommended to continue implementing School Based Flu Clinics in Monterey County