Students get H1N1 vaccine
RIDGE SPRING -- The small group of third-graders hovered around the front office at Ridge Spring-Monetta Elementary/Middle School Monday laughing and talking cheerfully.
When Principal Jim Hooper came by, the kids rushed over, proudly showing off the band-aids on their arms from the H1N1 (swine flu) vaccines they had just received.
"It didn't hurt at all," said Perla Hernandez.
The S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) began its immunization regimen for the vaccine at Aiken County schools which will continue into January.
About 700 students attend the combined elementary/middle school. Only about 240 of them returned permission forms signed by their parents by last Friday, said the district's director of nursing, Germaine Purcell, although some parents told Hooper they had taken their children to clinics or their physician for the injection previously.
"There are a lot of kids in our schools who need to get the flu shots, and DHEC is recommending we do it," Purcell said. "There's a second wave, and they're looking for a third. We feel like this is a good community project. We're doing it for parents who can't get off work to take their kids to a clinic. The DHEC staff has been excellent. They have many years experience in giving injections at health departments and other venues."
Purcell and a school nurse, as well as volunteers, helped shepherd children to four DHEC nurses from the agency's six-county Orangeburg region. The volunteers included guidance counselor Kimmerie Lee and Jamie Long, an Aiken County EMS staffer. Long had come to the school to be ready for the possibility of an allergic reaction. She decided "to make myself useful" and with Lee and others, helped the nurses comfort some 4-year-olds who were anxious about getting a shot.
"I'm a hugger and the lollipop lady today," said Lee with a smile. "It's going to be all right, and this is good for the kids to have. We had a few little ones who were a little teary, and those tears were contagious. But the older kids did a great job."
None of the children was forced to receive the immunizations, said Purcell. If the smaller children were too upset, they were sent back to their classrooms.
DHEC nurses will visit J.D. Lever Elementary School and North Aiken Elementary School today. After Thanksgiving, the clinic schedule will resume next Monday at North Augusta Elementary School. The clinics will continue through Dec. 16 for about half of Aiken County schools. The remaining schools will be scheduled after the Christmas holiday. The DHEC staffers also will return to the elementary schools for a second and final round of the vaccine, said Barbara Grice, DHEC's Region 5 director.
"We have a vaccine coordinator in place for the region who is setting up all the school areas," she said. "Our staff has done an excellent job in getting the kids through in a reasonable amount of time."
DHEC has vaccine supplies available and expects to receive the vaccine on an ongoing basis, Grice said.
Contact Rob Novit at rnovit@aikenstandard.com.