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STUDENTS VACCINATED FOR SEASONAL FLU AND H1N1 VIRUSES

By Erin France/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Wednesday, October 21, 2009 9:29 AM CDT

The second graders at 34th Avenue Elementary School Tuesday looked prepared for their flu shots until they sat next to Laurell Hall.

Kristine Brooks, R.N., (left) the 34th Avenue Elementary School nurse, holds onto second-grader Keyenaia Brown (center) as community health nurse specialist Kim Hooks of the Arkansas Department of Health administers the flu shot Tuesday morning at the school. Pine Bluff Commercial/Ralph Fitzgerald

Hall is a public health nurse coordinator with the Jefferson County Health Unit, a division of the Arkansas Department of Health.

She administered vaccines in the form of the H1N1 nasal spray and the seasonal influenza shot.

Some students tried to slide away from Hall’s needle and the cries of the unwilling often immediately were replaced by sniffles after the shot.

“When one child starts crying, that starts the cycle,” said Rosemary Withers, a community health promotion specialist.

Dyhiamon Hawkins, a fifth grader, helped younger students prepare for the shot.

“My teacher had sent me down here,” she said.

Hawkins added that she’s thinking about a career in the medical field.

“She’s done a very good job,” said Kim Hooks, a community health nurse specialist. “She calms them down.”

Hooks was another nurse administrating the vaccine.

“It’s going smoother than I thought,” she said.

Charlie Cannon, a school volunteer, held troublesome students trying to inch away from the needle.

“I tell them it’s not going to hurt,” he said. “I try to keep them from being afraid.”

Lawrence McWherter, a public health preparedness coordinator for the state health department, said many medical professionals hope the tactic of bringing vaccine to the schools will prevent the flu from spreading.

“Everybody knows junior is going to catch the flu in the school and bring it home,” he said.

He said giving inoculations in the schools is something that’s new for Arkansas and for most of the country.

“This is a cutting edge thing,” he said. “That’s why we’re so pleased with the response in the schools.”

Flu clinics will also be offered at other schools and the Jefferson County Health Unit will provide seasonal flu shots (and H1N1 vaccine if available) at the Pine Bluff Convention Center Oct. 30 from 7 a.m. until 6 p.m.

34th Elementary was among the first in Pine Bluff School District to administer the flu vaccines this week.

When schools send home a letter, vaccine information sheet and consent forms, parents are asked to sign them and return them so that the child may get a vaccine. With a signed permission form, the parent does not have to be present, the health department said.

Flu clinics will be held in these schools and on these dates:

Today — Belair Elementary, 8:30-11:30 a.m.

Southeast Junior High, noon- 2:30 p.m.

Thursday — Pine Bluff High School, 8:30 a.m.-noon

Friday — Jack Robey Junior High, 8:30 a.m.-noon

Oct. 26 — Greenville Elementary, 8:30-11:30 a.m.

Oct. 26 — Southwood Elementary, noon- 2:30 p.m.

Oct. 27 — Oak Park Elementary, 8:30-11:30 a.m.

Oct. 27 — W.T. Cheney, noon- 2:30 p.m.

Oct. 28 — Broadmoor Elementary, 8:30-11:30 a.m.

Nov. 2 — Dollarway High School, 8:30-11:30 a.m.

Nov. 2 — Martin Elementary (Altheimer), 12:30-3:30 p.m.

Nov. 3 — Dollarway Middle School, 8:30-11:30 a.m.

Nov. 3 — Townsend Park Elementary, 12:30-3:30 p.m.

Nov. 4 — James Matthews Elementary, 12:30-3:30 p.m.

Nov. 9 — Edgewood Elementary, 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

Nov. 10 — L.L. Owen Elementary, 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

Nov. 12 — Coleman Middle School, 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

Nov. 17 — Redfield Junior High, 8:30-11:30 a.m.

Nov. 17 — Hardin Elementary, 12:30-2:30 p.m.

Nov. 18 — White Junior High, 8:30-11:30 a.m.

Nov. 18 — White Hall High School, noon-3 p.m. Nov. 19 — Moody Elementary, 8:30-11 a.m.

Nov. 19 — Taylor Elementary, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m.

Nov. 19 — Gandy Elementary, 1:30-3 p.m.

Nov. 20 — Watson Chapel Junior High, 8:30-11:30 a.m.

Nov. 20 — Watson Chapel High School, 12:30-2:30 p.m.

For more information go to www.healthyarkansas.com or www.flu.gov. or contact the local health unit at 535-2142.

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