“When I was 6, they came out with polio shots, and those used a big needle,” Goodrich said. “When I was standing out there in line waiting for the second shot with the rest of the munchkins, the word comes down the line, ‘Oh, the nurse broke two needles in this kid’s arm! She broke three needles!’ I left the line and rode off on my bike. I came home and my mom asked if I had gotten it, and I said, ‘No, they are doing terrible things down there!’ She told me I had to go back and get it.”
Goodrich was all smiles Thursday after he received his flu shot during Peterson Regional Medical Center and H-E-B Pharmacy’s joint flu shot clinic at the Hill Country Youth Event Center.
The clinic also served as a state-approved emergency management training exercise to test the county’s efficiency in handling mass vaccination or emergency scenarios.
Recipients had two options: stay in your car or go inside for an inoculation, a choice that also allowed the staff to monitor those with a history of shot reactions.
Schreiner University nursing student Harlin Richardson helped Kerrville resident Martha Jost complete a questionnaire before administering her shot.
“I had done this before in Albuquerque, and it was so efficient,” Jost said. “There is no reason anybody can’t do it. If you can’t get out of your car, you can still drive through. It is the easiest thing to do, especially if you have insurance.”
Jost’s husband, Jim Jost, will receive his shot during the South Texas Veterans Health Care System’s drive-through clinic from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday at the Kerrville VA Medical Center, 3600 Memorial Blvd.
Appointments aren’t needed; ID cards are required. A second clinic will be Oct. 16.
Thursday’s event served 1,075 people, or about 100 per hour, according to staff.
“I’ve lost count of how many we’ve seen,” Richardson said. “It’s gone smoothly.”
“We do clinicals at the hospital and doctor’s offices, but this is the first hands-
on event like this that we’ve done,” nursing student Jadyn Hughes said. “It was a good experience for us.”
Kerrville Fire Department EMS coordinator Eric Maloney said the exercise would allow the county to take the statistics gathered and translate them for a county-wide scenario.
“We could serve about 5,000 people here at this site alone,” Maloney said.
About 78 workers and volunteers assisted Wednesday, Kerr County Sheriff’s Office public information officer Pam Hicks said, including Community Emergency Response Team members who assisted with traffic direction.
Traffic varied throughout the day, but things went smoothly, according to Tim Lewis, who directed team operations.
“It’s gone as well as can be expected for the first time (for emergency training),” volunteer Vince Moravec said. “They originally were divided into two lines for individuals and groups, but they changed it, since one line didn’t have much going on. It’s a learning experience. If this was something like anthrax vaccine, I wouldn’t want to be here at all. You’d have to give us tasers and billy clubs.”
———
©2015 the Kerrville Daily Times (Kerrville, Texas)
Visit the Kerrville Daily Times (Kerrville, Texas) at www.dailytimes.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
