700 people received seasonal flu vaccine at Rainy Lake Medical Center today. Turnout exhausts Rainy Lake Medical Center’s first shipment of vaccine. International Falls, MN. (October 7, 2009) — By 11 a.m. yesterday, Rainy Lake Medical Center staff and nursing students from Rainy River Community College had given more than 400 seasonal flu shots at the clinic campus. By 2:30 p.m., 700 doses were gone, depleting the first supply Rainy Lake Medical Center received from manufacturer Sanofi Pasteur. “We expected a large turnout for the seasonal flu shot clinic,” said RLMC Pharmacist Katie Hiscock. “In fact, we had ordered more vaccines, but received only 700 in the first shipment.” RLMC is expecting another shipment of vaccine, but the exact arrival date is unknown. “We check with our manufacturer daily,” says Mary Servis, RN, Chief Nursing Officer. “As soon as we have vaccine in hand, we will schedule another flu shot clinic for the community.” The Koochiching County Health Department administered approximately 400 vaccines in September, and is also currently out of supply. This was the first year Rainy Lake Medical Center, which was formed by the integration of Duluth Clinic - International Falls and Falls Memorial Hospital, hosted a flu shot clinic. In past years, the clinic and hospital have provided vaccines independently. “It was exciting to have clinic and hospital staff working together to provide this important service to our community,” Servis said. “When more vaccine is available, we will have any kinks worked out of the process.” Last year, the hospital provided 600 seasonal flu shots; the clinic administered 900. Hiscock expects this year’s numbers to be at least that many. “I think people are concerned about seasonal flu, so we are going to see more getting vaccinated,” she says. “I expect we will see similar numbers for the H1N1 vaccine, when it becomes available.” According to the Minnesota Department of Health, a vaccine for novel H1N1 will be arriving in the state in several shipments over the next few weeks and continuing through the end of the year. Rainy Lake Medical Center Pharmacist Dick Peterson says he expects to receive shipment of the vaccine in the form of a nasal spray this week or next. “We expect the initial shipment to be relatively small,” he says, “so we will be following the MDH guidelines and targeting healthcare and emergency medical workers for the initial round of vaccinations.” Rainy Lake Medical Center will alert the public as more information about additional seasonal flu vaccines and H1N1 vaccines becomes available. If you have questions in the meantime, contact your health care provider or visit the Minnesota Department of Health flu website at www.mdhflu.com. “Taking a few simple, common-sense precautions is still the most important thing you can do to keep from getting either seasonal or novel H1N1 flu – or spreading it to others,” says Servis. The Minnesota Department of Health recommends the following: Stay home from work or school – and generally avoid going out in public – if you are sick with symptoms of the flu. Cover your nose and mouth with your sleeve or a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Clean your hands frequently and thoroughly – with soap and water or an alcohol-based hand-sanitizer solution. Get vaccinated against the flu. Avoid contact with others who may be ill. Clean your hands after shaking hands or having other close contact with others and before eating or preparing food, or touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Be aware of the symptoms of H1N1 flu – which are generally the same as those for seasonal flu. H1N1 symptoms include fever of 100 degrees or more with sore throat or cough. H1N1 symptoms may also include runny or stuffy nose body aches headache chills fatigue In some cases, symptoms of novel H1N1 can also include vomiting and diarrhea – which are not typically symptoms of seasonal flu. If you are an employer, encourage your employees to stay home if they are sick with flu symptoms. In general, if you are ill with flu symptoms, stay home from work, school or other places where people gather until 24 hours after your fever subsides. Stricter guidelines apply to children or staff in day care settings or early education programs attended by children under five years of age. In programs serving children under five, children and staff with flu symptoms should stay home until seven days after their symptoms first appeared – or 24 hours after their symptoms go away – whichever is longer. The stricter child care recommendations also apply to facilities where children under five and older children are both present, unless the two groups – as well as staff who interact with them – can be kept separate. Contact your health care provider if you are severely ill with flu symptoms, or if you have flu symptoms and you are pregnant, or you have an underlying health problem or condition. If you decide you need to talk to a health care provider, take steps to avoid exposing others to the flu: Call first to see if you need to actually see your provider in person. If you do need to see your provider, steps can be taken to avoid exposing other patients to the flu.