I had a surreal experience this past weekend.
My community was providing the second of its H1N1 vaccination clinics. As a good emergency manager - not to mention a good neighbor - I volunteered to help, as did a goodly number of the campus staff and students (those not already gone for the winter break).
The clinic was advertised for the 'high risk' group - children and students 6 months to 24, pregnant women, parents of infants. There were 150 volunteers, organized in proper ICS fashion by the city emergency responders. When the clinic opened at 10am, there was a large crowd of people who were quickly processed through the griage, evaluation and vaccination stations.
After the first hour, customers had dwindled. Those 150 volunteers were waiting to protect their fellow citizens with no takers and a fair amount of vaccine left to be distributred.
That's when the miracle happened.
The Public Health Officer conferred with the clinic organizers and they decided to open the clinic to the public. They would welcome anyone who wanted an H1N1 vaccine. So - with two hours left, they set out to find more customers.
Volunteers called the local radio stations, sent the message through the Saturday morning Farmer's Market, convinced the local grocery stores to make announcements, called their own families. The local school district used its parent notificaiton system (an automated call tree) to call every household in the district.
The message said simply - everyone is welcome to come down in the next two hours and get your H1N1 vaccination.
People began arriving within 20 minutes: families with children of all ages in tow, couples who'd been grocery shopping, singles who'd been strolling through the Saturday morning Farmer's Market. The line once again zigzagged through the school gym.
At the end of the 4-hour clinic, just over 1500 people had been vaccinated - almost exactly what the county Public Health department had targeted. It might not have been the high-risk population originally targeted, but it was 1500 more people vaccinated than before.
As someone used to activating much more complicated electronic notification systems - I was completely taken by surprise. It was a humbling lesson in remembering the basics.
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My community was providing the second of its H1N1 vaccination clinics. As a good emergency manager - not to mention a good neighbor - I volunteered to help, as did a goodly number of the campus staff and students (those not already gone for the winter break).
The clinic was advertised for the 'high risk' group - children and students 6 months to 24, pregnant women, parents of infants. There were 150 volunteers, organized in proper ICS fashion by the city emergency responders. When the clinic opened at 10am, there was a large crowd of people who were quickly processed through the griage, evaluation and vaccination stations.
After the first hour, customers had dwindled. Those 150 volunteers were waiting to protect their fellow citizens with no takers and a fair amount of vaccine left to be distributred.
That's when the miracle happened.
The Public Health Officer conferred with the clinic organizers and they decided to open the clinic to the public. They would welcome anyone who wanted an H1N1 vaccine. So - with two hours left, they set out to find more customers.
Volunteers called the local radio stations, sent the message through the Saturday morning Farmer's Market, convinced the local grocery stores to make announcements, called their own families. The local school district used its parent notificaiton system (an automated call tree) to call every household in the district.
The message said simply - everyone is welcome to come down in the next two hours and get your H1N1 vaccination.
People began arriving within 20 minutes: families with children of all ages in tow, couples who'd been grocery shopping, singles who'd been strolling through the Saturday morning Farmer's Market. The line once again zigzagged through the school gym.
At the end of the 4-hour clinic, just over 1500 people had been vaccinated - almost exactly what the county Public Health department had targeted. It might not have been the high-risk population originally targeted, but it was 1500 more people vaccinated than before.
As someone used to activating much more complicated electronic notification systems - I was completely taken by surprise. It was a humbling lesson in remembering the basics.
