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Preventive Medicine: It’s Flu Shot Season
According to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report, 200,000 Americans are hospitalized annually from influenza and about 36,000 die. And the worst part is, the disease is virtually 100% preventable with a simple flu shot. Fortunately, for anyone over 18, getting that shot is no more complicated than showing up at the right place, at the right time. Supermarkets, drugstores, big box stores, and all manner of outpatient facilities set up ad hoc medical stations dubbed “clinics,” where drop-ins can plunk down an insurance card, a Medicare I.D., or $35 and roll up their sleeves (better yet, wear short ones; the injection is given in the upper arm near the shoulder). Happily, instead of having to rely on dumb luck to run across one of these stations, which appear and disappear as mysteriously as mushrooms in a lawn, there are now websites that list places, times, and particulars. Connecticut and New York State residents can find their schedule through the American Lung Association’s Flu Clinic Locator. Residents of Berkshire County can go to Mass PRO Website and, for still more opportunities, the website of the Berkshire Visiting Nurse Association.
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Posted by Marilyn Bethany on 10/06/08 at 12:56 PM • Permalink
