Saving a Damsel in Distress
&
amp; More on the Flu
More on Getting
that Flu Shot
Our Wednesday item about the availability of flu shots in San Benito County brought a call from the Muree Reafs, the county director of public health nursing, who provided more information on the county role in fighting influenza.
On the question of how much vaccine the county has: “We will have plenty of vaccine and people should not hesitate,” she said.
The county’s primary role will be to distribute doses to public health facilities, such as Hazel Hawkins Hospital and the San Benito Health Foundation, which will make it available first to high risk populations, such as the elderly and youth aged two months to 18 years. After Oct. 24 (Monday), it will be generally available.
The county effort will concentrate on providing shots to those at-risk age groups, plus the uninsured and people of low income. To find out if you qualify, call county health: 637-5367.
Reafs was particularly eager to encourage children to get the shot, because they tend to come into contact with more people and spread the virus. Also, she cautioned, don’t stock up on or overuse the prescription treatment “tamiflu.” And as always, be sure to consult your physician before getting any treatment.
Another caller wanted us to know that the Senior Center would be offering flu shots at the Veterans Building in downtown Hollister on Nov. 16 from 10am to 1pm for people with a Medicare card.
More flu stuff as it comes in.
Working on
the Railroad
The Red Phone has never had the opportunity to save a fair maiden tied to the train tracks, but this week, we at least were able to make it a little safer for her to drive over them.
Apparently, our caller was driving down Fourth Street Wednesday afternoon and came across the train tracks just before McCray Street. She saw a train coming, but she supposed it looked far enough away, and the gate wasn’t starting to shut, nor were any lights flashing or bells ringing.
She crossed the tracks, but when she looked behind her, the train was awfully close and the gate still wasn’t shutting. To the best of the Red Phone’s knowledge, no one was hurt, but a malfunction of that nature strikes us as a major problem.
We called Union Pacific, the company in charge of all things rail for San Benito County, and got in touch with representative Kathryn Blackwell, who was gracious enough to skip a course or two at a dinner meeting in order to set things right.
First, Blackwell took pains to assure us that railroad gate malfunctions are “extremely rare,” and are designed to be fail safe. Even if they short circuit due to a natural disaster, they’re supposed to at least shut partially, to warn you that crossing may not be safe.
Blackwell then took down the information and promised to pass the info down through the proper channels as soon as we got off the phone with her. When we called back later, she said the gate would be inspected within 12 hours at the absolute latest, which means that by the time you are reading this it should all be taken care of.
In the future, if you think there’s something a tad fishy about the gates, call: 1-888-877-7267. That number, according to Blackwell is printed on every gate in California, but if you can’t remember it, call the police, they all the know the number and can take care of it for you.
Call us, too, of course, at 635-9219. We like being the watchdogs of justice.
