DOWNEY - A free seasonal flu-shot clinic was conducted last Saturday at the Downey Theater. Nearly 1,200 vaccinations were given to community members over the course of the 4-hour event.An emergency preparedness fair was also held in the same location to deliver the emergency preparedness message to the large number of people attending the clinic The event went smoothly and benefited from a number of volunteers from community, educational and private groups. Both walk-in and drive-up clinics were offered to those attending. The local hospitals (Downey Regional Medical Center and Kaiser) were very helpful in staffing the vaccination stations. The LA County Dept of Public Health provided the vaccine and the necessary equipment for the vaccinations. The L.A. County Dept of Mental Health staff assisted with the event. Nursing students from Rio Hondo and Shepherd Colleges were helpful as well. Many City Departments participated in the planning and operations of the event. Staff from Downey community services, fire department, theater, police, physical services and the building department all contributed to the success of the event. Several Downey volunteer groups worked hard to ensure the success of the event. There were representatives from the Emergency Preparedness Committee, the Downey CERT team, the Red Cross, Police Explorers, Fire Explorers and Fire Auxiliaries. The next planned free flu-shot clinic will provide the vaccine for the H1N1 (aka swine flu) virus and will be held on Tuesday, Oct. 27 from 1 - 9 p.m. City staff are planning for the event now. Information and delivery dates for the H1N1 vaccine is changing frequently. Please look for future information in The Downey Patriot and on the city of Downey website. The following federal websites are also helpful www.flu.gov and www.cdc.gov/flu/ Questions about the Downey flu-shot clinics should be directed to ready@downeyca.org.

********** Published: October 2, 2009 - Volume 8 - Issue 24