Red Rock On Air

(From Pine Co. Public Health)

On January 20th, 2010, Pine County Public Health conducted an H1N1 Vaccination Clinic at the Pine City National Guard Armory for the general public. (See pictures.)  This was what is likely to be the last large clinic for H1N1 vaccinations in the county.  The other two large clinics were held at the Hinckley Community Center on November 17th and December 14th, 2009.

“At the Hinckley clinics, Public Health nurses vaccinated over 400 and almost 200, respectively,” said Pauline Amundson, MPH,  Pine County Public Health Preparedness Coordinator.

Those two clinics were geared for school-age children and other initial target groups.  Following the first large clinic, there was just enough vaccine left to go to Pine City, East Central and Willow River School Districts in the following days to administer over 200 more vaccinations.  Public Health is grateful for the collaboration of the school districts in planning and publicity.

At the Pine City National Guard Armory on the 20th of January, almost 200 people were vaccinated.  Since all the initial target groups for H1N1 vaccination had had an opportunity to be vaccinated before January, this clinic was open to the general public.

“We were prepared to do up to 600 vaccinations with the supplies and staff we had on hand, and potentially could have done over 1,000 if all of our nurses had been present,” said Amundson.

“This makes me feel good about being able to do a mass vaccination clinic in response to a future potential emergency in Pine County,” said Amundson.  “All of the logistical pieces are in place, and we have had good practice setting up for fairly large crowds.”

In addition to the three large clinics held in Pine County, Public Health nurses have administered H1N1 vaccine at smaller clinics in their offices in Sandstone and Pine City since November 2009.  These clinics have averaged about 100 people each.  Private clinics in the county have also offered the vaccine as it became more available in December and January.

The campaign started with planning by the local Pine County Preparedness Advisory Council.  This group consists of public health and emergency management personnel (sheriff’s office) as well as health facility, volunteer, utility, faith-based, local government and other community members.

For the purpose of helping plan the Pine County Vaccination Campaign, Pine City Mayor Jane Robbins, Pine City Administrator Don Howard, Allina Clinic representative Teresa Banks, Pine Medical Center pharmacist Jim Koppen, Pine Technical School representatives Dione Thoma and Robert Musgrove, and Grand Casino Hinckley representative Robin Roatch were some of the folks helping make decisions about getting Pine County residents vaccinated in a timely and effective manner.

At the start of the campaign in early October, vaccine was targeted to hospital personnel and some EMS workers.   As more vaccine became available, other health care workers, pregnant women, household contacts of infants under six months, and children under school age were targeted.  These groups were considered the highest risk for either contracting the disease or for complications from H1N1 influenza.  Then school-age children with high risk conditions and eventually all children through age 18 were targeted.  After that, adults with high risk conditions, and finally in January, the general population was invited to the H1N1 clinics.

Many thanks to the faithful Minnesota Responds volunteers from Pine County that assisted at our clinics.  Volunteer Barry Vermilyea, PhD, has assisted at all three of our large clinics and with some of our planning. (See picture)

As of the end of January, Pine County Public Health nurses with the assistance of the entire public health staff and some volunteers, have administered over 2,000 vaccinations.  This is more than five times the number of vaccinations that have been given by this agency for seasonal influenza in each of the last few years.  In addition to the H1N1 vaccinations, the public health nurses both here in Pine County and all over the country, have been required to continue their regular duties.

“This has been a particularly challenging year for public health staff as well as local clinics.  We want to thank the private clinics in Pine County – Aazhoomog, Allina, Fairview and Gateway Clinics for also administering H1N1 vaccinations.  Without their efforts, public health would have had a much greater challenge,” said Amundson.

As long as vaccine supplies last, vaccinations for H1N1 and seasonal influenza continue to be offered at the Public Health offices in Pine City and Sandstone.  For schedules of clinics, please visit www.co.pine.mn.us, click on ‘Pine County Public Health’ under ‘Alerts’ on the right column or call 320 591-1690 or 1-800-450-7463, ext 1690.