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Beebe Medical Center will offer free influenza vaccinations at several locations during the month of November. Vaccinations will be provided to adults only (those over the age of 18). Parents should contact their children’s physician for information about pediatric vaccinations.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, people at high risk for complications from influenza include the following:
• People 65 years and older.
• People who live in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities that house those with long-term illnesses.
• Adults and children six months and older with chronic heart or lung conditions, including asthma.
• Adults and children six months and older who needed regular medical care or were in a hospital during the previous year because of a metabolic disease (like diabetes), chronic kidney disease or weakened immune system (including immune system problems caused by medicines or by infection with human immunodeficiency virus [HIV/AIDS]).
• Children 6 months to 18 years of age who are on long-term aspirin therapy. (Children given aspirin while they have influenza are at risk of Reye’s syndrome.)
• Women who are pregnant during influenza season.
• All children 6 to 23 months of age.
• People with any condition that can compromise respiratory function or the handling of respiratory secretions (that is, a condition that makes it hard to breathe or swallow, such as brain injury or disease, spinal cord injuries, seizure disorders or other nerve or muscle disorders).
The CDC also recommends that the following populations consider getting the influenza vaccination:
• People 50 to 64 years of age. Nearly one-third of people between the ages of 50 and 64 years of age in the United States have one or more medical conditions that place them at an increased risk for serious flu complications.
• People who can transmit flu to others at high risk for complications. Any person in close contact with someone in a high-risk group should get vaccinated. This includes all healthcare workers, household contacts and out-of-home caregivers of young children up to 23 months of age, and close contacts of people 65 years and older.
Those who become ill with influenza should rest, drink plenty of liquids, avoid using alcohol and tobacco, and take medication to relieve symptoms (Never give aspirin to children or teenagers who have flu-like symptoms, especially fever, without consulting a physician). In some cases, physicians may choose to prescribe certain antiviral drugs to treat influenza. Antibiotics do not cure influenza, which is caused by a virus.
Community Health Influenza Vaccine Clinics include the following:
• Beebe Lab Express, Georgetown Professional Park, 20136 Office Circle, Georgetown, 1 to 3 p.m., Nov. 1.
• Nanticoke Indian Museum - corner of John J. Williams Highway (Route 24) and Route 5, Oak Orchard, 6 to 9 p.m., Nov. 1.
• Beebe Lab Express, 611 Federal Street, Milton, 1 to 4 p.m., Nov. 5.
• Beebe Lab Express, Creekside Plaza, Atlantic Avenue, (next to Food Lion on Route 26), Millville, 3 to 6 p.m., Nov. 6.
• Bookhammer Outpatient Center, Beebe Health Campus, John J Williams Highway (Route 24), Rehoboth Beach, noon to 4 p.m., Nov. 10.
• Beebe Lab Express - 232 Mitchell Street, Suite 200, Millsboro, 1 to 4 p.m., Nov. 15.
For information, contact Beebe Medical Center’s Public Relations Specialist at 302-645-3221. The vaccinations are free but donations are gladly accepted.
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