You guys have to PAY for flu shots??

I'm surprised you overlooked one big category...getting a free flu shot from your employer. Mine can't be the only one.

Our company sponsors free flu shots every year for the past 10 years. We've never had to pay. Flu shots are part of our tax expenditure since we pay so much! Go USA!

We actually have a drive thru clinic in October....just stick your driver's arm out the window. Over in two seconds. That's it. No cost. Margaret Garcia-Couoh

My employeer gives us free flu shots every year. They set of specific days at various locations around the facility. Then, there's a later series of "make up" appointments for anyone who was unable to get a shot during the first round (usually people on vacation or business travel). They figure that it's a small price to pay to vaccinate the entire work force (or as many as will take it, it's voluntary) rather than have to pay for sick time when the flu runs rampant through cubeville because someone refused to go home when they weren't feeling well.

Ha! I love the drive through flu shot idea. Stop. Stick your arm out. Drive away. Nice.

Our town drive-thru flu clinic isn't quite "stick your arm out and drive away," but it's pretty efficient. It's also massively cool as it's a full-blown pandemic flu disaster drill "dress rehearsal" and every agency in the area (from FEMA and the National Guard all the way down to the Boy Scouts) who might be asked to help out in the real deal shows up to practice their skills.

First we triage them at the entrance to the parking lot by asking them the usual flu shot questions (allergic to eggs, sick now, etc.) and sending the high risk ones (like the poor pregnant lady who got turned away at Walgreens) to park and walk inside (though they would NOT turn you down!). The rest get directed into the double-barreled queue to get their shot. Police officers direct the traffic from the street into the parking lot, then trained CERT and Citizens Police Academy volunteers perform triage and traffic control under the direction of a trained first responder/paramedic.

People with potential medical complications or concerns are directed to park and go inside. If your dog is in the car with you, we ask you to drop them off at home first or park the car and walk inside due to concerns about the person jabbing "mommy and daddy" getting bitten. The Boy Scouts help direct people who have to park (and little old ladies with walkers) inside, where it looks very much like a traditional flu clinic with everybody from the Red Cross to student nurses from the local community college doing the traditional flu shot things. But the real action is outside!

Out in the parking lot is everything from the usual local/county medical supply vans to military tents and satellite dishes set up to provide communications support. I'm part of civilian ARES (amateur radio emergency service) so we're cross-training with the military (we have a small base in our town) to help the Incident Commander (guy running the show) communicate with every disparate agency helping out that day (police, fire, Red Cross, military, medical, etc.) and also state/federal FEMA officials to get more supplies. Our town Health Agent is usually floating between the inside and outside clinics to monitor progress. We expect in a -REAL- pandemic the majority of our local military personnel will be redeployed to the cities, but a shadow crew of National Guardsmen who also work out of that base with some of the military's equipment will stay to help, so they're training volunteer ARES radio operators how to work with them. Lots of cool toys ... but I digress :-)

The second drive-thru station gives you the forms to fill out (name, date of birth, etc) an collect your $10 for the shot. They're able to process medicare/medicaid reimbursement forms right now, but not private insurance. My private insurance will pay the $10 for the flu shot, but not the $15 copay for me to go to a private doctor, so I just get mine done at the clinic each year. They also tell you to roll up your sleeves here. This station is usually staffed by non-medical Red Cross volunteers.

The third station gives you your shot. You just drive under a canopy, stick out your arm, get jabbed, and move onto the next station. This station is usually manned by a variety of trained medical personnel such as Medical Reserve Corps or military medics.

The fourth station is the reaction waiting area. You're directed to park in a parking lot for 10 minutes where volunteers trained to recognize the signs of reaction patrol along with an ambulance from the Fire Department in case somebody does have a reaction. Civilian Air Patrol handles the bulk of this duty. At 10 minutes, they ask you how you feel, then direct you how to get out of the parking lot and on your merry way.

All told, unless you've got a medical complication necessitating you go inside, we've been able to easily process 1,200 vaccinees in a few hours with an average in and out time of 20 minutes and anticipate we could easily quadruple that number in that same timeframe and get all 27,000 people in town vaccinated by going around the clock or over a period of 3-4 days. People really love it because it's so convenient and they don't even have to get out of their car. We've become a national model for pandemic flu response because it avoids having sick people who have the flu mingling with healthy vaccinees and healthy emergency response workers.

swine flu comes back and we should take care of ourselves, go frequently to see a doctor, do exercise everyday, wash our hands before meals,ect. nothing is more important than your health.[img]http://www.photosnag.com/img/4713/n09x0302vnsn/clear.gif[/img]