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Date: 10/5/2021
EASTHAMPTON – The Easthampton Health, Fire, and Police Departments are hosting a drive-thru flu clinic and Public Safety Open House on Oct. 16 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Public Safety Complex.
According to Easthampton Public Health Director Bri Eichstaedt, the reasoning for a drive-thru clinic is mainly to keep as many people out of the hospital as possible. Receiving flu shots is a step closer to mitigating the outside impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the dashboard on Mass.gov, there are currently 606 patients hospitalized from COVID-19, as of Sep. 27. On that same date in 2020, there were 408 patients hospitalized from the virus.
“Unfortunately, we’re still very much in a pandemic,” said Eichstaedt. “Cases have risen from over the summer when cases were extremely low.”
The city conducted two drive-thru flu clinics in 2020 as well - one at the Easthampton High School and then one that included a partnership with the Easthampton Fire Department during an open house. According to Eichstaedt, the city was able to vaccinate a total of 314 people between those clinics.
“We had a great turnout and a lot of people appreciated not having to leave their car, especially during COVID-19 where some people may still limit their time out in the community,” said Eichstaedt.
High dose and regular dose vaccines will be available for people when they arrive, and according to Eichstaedt, the high dose vaccine is typically for adults 65 and older. People are not allowed to receive both.
During the flu clinic, the Health Department will have a table available with public health resources such as masks, vaccine information, ticket I.D. cards, hand sanitizer, vaccine card holders and other helpful resources regarding the pandemic.
Accompanying the flu clinic is a Public Safety Open House portion available provided by the Fire and Police departments during the 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. time frame. According to Fire Chief Christopher Norris, the fire department will open the building to the public and provide a vehicle extrication demonstration for the community with pizza provided.
“We’re going to use that time frame to educate people about some fire safety concerns out there … checking their smoke detectors; checking their carbon monoxide detectors; making sure their batteries are good,” said Norris. “We do a little segment on cooking safety.”
Beyond that, the Fire Department also plans on showing their resources to the public like trucks and some of the other equipment featured at the complex. According to Norris, the fire department tries to do something like this once a year, but in 2020, they had to conduct a drive-thru open house due to the pandemic. This year, they will be able to operate it in-person with the mandates in place.
“Now that buildings are open-and we’re still going to use the precautions in place-we can at least get people here and show them a little more detail,” he said. To sign up for the flu clinic, visit https://www.cvs.com/vaccine/intake/store/covid-screener/covid-qns.
“The Health, Fire and Police departments have always had a really great working relationship,” said Eichstaedt. “It's helpful to work together because we hold the flu clinic and open house all at once and pool our resources together. We can also work together to attract as many people as possible to our flu clinic by holding a joint event and vice versa.”