[November 07, 2009]

Health department swine flu vaccines begin

Nov 07, 2009 (The Frederick News-Post - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- The Frederick County Health Department's H1N1 flu shot clinic was smooth and organized Friday morning, in contrast to the chaos Wednesday when callers jammed phone lines trying to make appointments for the shots.

Lines were nonexistent Friday, parking was plentiful and all was quiet, except for the cries of children getting stuck with needles. No one waited outside, and the indoor queuing area was empty.

The health department received 800 doses of injectable vaccine this week, its first shipment from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Department officials hoped to offer the vaccine to those in high-risk groups. Instead of asking people to line up at the clinic site and take their chances, the department decided to go with a call-in system to set up appointments.

More than 10,000 calls besieged the 260 to 280 phone lines reserved through Total Communications, a Florida call center firm, in the first hour that appointments were accepted on Wednesday.

The telephone company warned the call center it was in danger of shutting down telephone lines.

Jenny McDaniel, of Frederick , and her two children, ages 8 months and 3 years, were headed into the clinic Friday morning. On the way in, a state trooper and health department employees asked motorists if they had an appointment for a flu shot. Only those with appointments were permitted to park near the clinic at 5506 Buckeystown Pike.

McDaniel said she called repeatedly Wednesday to make an appointment. She got either a busy signal or silence. The call center recorded calls in the order they came in, and about 1 that afternoon, she got a call back asking if she'd like to make an appointment.

Children ages 6 months to 24 years are considered at high risk. McDaniel's children have already had flulike symptoms, but she said she wasn't sure if they had the flu. "It's better to be safe than sorry." "People have said how impressed they were," said Dr. Barbara Brookmyer, county health officer. "They didn't need to line up hours in advance." She said she spoke with people who were not able to make appointments, and even they preferred calling to waiting in line. She does not know if the department will use the same process for the next round of vaccinations.

"We're still waiting to get a better idea from the call center," she said. Calls came in at the rate of 167 to 333 per minute, she said, "so it's not surprising that it went over capacity." If an affordable technology to handle the call volume can be found, she said a similar approach might be used again.

The clinic was in the Church of the Redeemer, formerly the Circuit City store, behind Sam's Club. The health department will use the space for several months as a regular clinic site. The Church of the Redeemer meets in the Holiday Inn, and recently bought the building, but has not converted it into a church.

The church is letting the department use the building free.

"It's great having this place," Brookmyer said. "We can set up our operation and keep it set up. It helps with efficiency." Church volunteers provided juice and doughnut holes to those who received shots.

Mary and Michael Johnson, of Frederick , and their toddler son, Michael Jr., got their shots Friday morning. "I thought it was great," Mary said. "We had a little trouble getting through on the phone, but they called back and gave us an appointment." Michael Sr. is undergoing treatment for brain cancer, so all three got the shots.

Brookmyer said no one is turned away for a shot once an appointment is made. "Our instructions to the call center were to ask people if they were in a high-risk category," she said.

The department should get another shipment of vaccine soon, she said.

To see more of the Frederick News-Post or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.fredericknewspost.com. Copyright (c) 2009, The Frederick News-Post, Md. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

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