Faulkner hired for six-month term with funding from federal
government
Local preschool students and kindergartners may soon be getting
a visit from Lisa Faulkner and Wally the Wellness Whale in an
effort to promote vaccination for the H1N1 flu vaccine among
children ages six months to 5 years.
Faulkner hired for six-month term with funding from federal government
Local preschool students and kindergartners may soon be getting a visit from Lisa Faulkner and Wally the Wellness Whale in an effort to promote vaccination for the H1N1 flu vaccine among children ages six months to 5 years.
Faulkner will be working with First 5 San Benito and San Benito County Public Health Services for the next six months as an H1N1 coordinator.
“The funding came from moneys we received from the federal government in response to the flu pandemic,” said Patricia Morales, a public information office with the county’s Public Health Service. “One of the targeted populations is children and youth.”
Faulkner’s position as H1N1 coordinator entails arranging presentations at local preschool and kindergarten classes. She will meet with parents and conduct a survey about parents’ thoughts on flu vaccines. Then she will meet with the students, along with the help of her whale puppet, about the flu vaccine as well as good practices for preventing the spread of illness.
Faulkner gave her first presentation Monday at the Head Start preschool at the R.O. Hardin campus as part of National Influenza Vaccination Week, which is Jan. 10-16.
“Some people think flu season is almost over,” she said. “But H1N1 is really unpredictable. It started last spring and summer.”
Faulkner’s main job is to increase the rate of H1N1 vaccination in the community, but her time will also be spent reviewing the belief systems of local families.
She said there is not a lot of local data on children 0 to 5 years so it is not really clear why some parents are more willing to vaccinate their children and why others may not be vaccinating their children.
Faulkner said a national study indicates that those in the Latino culture are more willing to get vaccinate than other populations and that generally people with health care providers who advocate the vaccination follow their primary care physician’s recommendation.
“Her role is to assess public perception of vaccinations,” Morales said. “The whole purpose of Lisa’s position is to promote getting your child vaccinated.”
Faulkner said some cultures, such as Oaxacans, don’t puncture the skin so parents may be unlikely to seek out a vaccination.
“The kids can get a nasal spray,” Faulkner said. “They still think there is a needle involved.”
The second part of Faulkner’s coordinator duties includes planning specialty flu clinics to vaccinate hard-to-reach populations.
“We will come back and offer a vaccination clinic,” Faulkner said, adding that a nurse will be the one to administer the vaccines. “We want to make it more accessible. If you go to the parents’ community, you build a relationship and are more likely to get the word out.”
The school and community clinics will be open to all family members, Faulkner said, including siblings, parents and grandparents.
“People who do not get vaccinated are taking two risks: they are placing themselves at risk for the flu, including a potentially long and serious illness, and second, if they get sick, they are also placing their close contacts at risk for influenza,” said Dr. Anne Schuchat, assistant surgeon general of the U.S. Public Health Service and CDC’s Director of the Nation Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, in a press release. “Flu can be especially serious for babies, young children, pregnant women, and people with certain chronic medical conditions, and seniors, who are at high risk of flu-related complications or death. Influenza is not a disease to taken lightly.”
Faulkner said that one of the confusing points about H1N1 may be that at first there was a limited supply of the vaccination and it was going to targeted populations such as those with chronic illnesses or those most at risk. But now she stressed there is an ample supply of the vaccine for anyone who wants to receive it.
“We are looking to promote healthy homes,” she said. “If the adults get sick it can be hard to take care of the children.”
Another challenge of disseminating the vaccine to children 9 years and younger is that they need two doses three to four weeks apart. That is part of the reason for the targeted clinics, where Faulkner and a nurse will return to a clinic site to administer the second dose.
Faulkner said she is willing to go out to any preschool or kindergarten class that will have her, but her priority for the first few weeks will be in visiting state-funded preschools.
Faulkner will also be working with people from the Community Media Access Partnership to put together public service announcements to promote health clinics in the area.
“It’s a win-win,” she said. “We all benefit from having the general population vaccinated.”
For more information, contact Lisa Faulkner at 634-4955. For more information about the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus or vaccine, please visit the California Department of Public Health’s at www.cdph.ca.gov or call the Health Department at 637-5367.
Community-wide H1N1 flu clinic set
The San Benito County Health and Human Services Agency Public Health Services will host an H1N1 flu clinic open to the general public on Jan. 27, from 1:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at the Veterans Memorial Building in Hollister. The clinic is open to children ages six months up to adult seniors, and the Public Health staff estimated they will have up to 3,000 doses of the H1N1 vaccine to give out.
H1N1 vaccinations are also available from local physicians and by appointment at the Public Health clinics Wednesdays from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. For more information, call 637-5367.
