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Flu
Immunization of staff helps protect elderly
population
The
Ministry of Health and Long Term Care’s
goals for influenza immunization rates in the
Long-Term Care Facilities (LTCFs) are 100% for
residents and 70% for staff. In February 2000,
Board of Health celebrated the successful
vaccination campaigns in the longterm care
facilities, nursing and retirement homes for
1999-2000. Twenty-six of 30 (87%) facilities
in the tri-county area, including all 15
long-term care facilities, achieved staff
immunization rates of 70% or higher. The
average rate per facility was 91%. Twenty-six
LTCFs met the Ministry's goal for staff
immunization again in 2000-2001. Their average
immunization rate was 89%. In July 2000, the
Ministry of Health announced its intention to
provide influenza immunization to all
residents in Ontario, as part of the strategy
to relieve pressure on the hospital emergency
departments across the province. In September
2000, an article about our Health Unit's
experience with the relationship between staff
immunization and rates of illness and death
was published in a provincial journal. The
paper showed that as the rates of staff
immunization in the tri-county increased, the
number of institutional outbreaks remained
fairly constant, but influenza rates and rates
of pneumonia, hospitalization, and death
declined to less than one-third of the
previous year. The addition of the entire
population to our original mandate for
influenza immunization, at first seemed
daunting. We didn't want to lose the momentum
that had been generated in the Long Term Care
Facilities by turning our focus solely to the
immunization of the general population. The
Outbreak Team, staffed by Public Health
Inspectors and Public Health Nurses, continued
to work with the facilities by providing
training sessions for staff and support to the
infection control officers. They presented a
workshop in September, which included a panel
discussion about motivating staff to be
immunized. Members of this panel were from
member LTCFs. The 2000-2001 campaign began in
October with immunization clinics in these
facilities. The Health Unit, Community Health
Centres (CHCs) and physicians began their
clinics for other "at risk"
individuals and health care providers in the
community. The immunization of the general
population began in November and continued
throughout December. Community clinics staffed
by the Health Unit, the Community Health
Centres and the acute care hospitals immunized
12,000 residents; the physicians and three
CHCs immunized 30, 329 residents. Nine of the
larger employers in the tri-county held their
own flu-shot clinics, immunizing a total of
2,072 employees through their own occupational
health programs/nurses or with the help of the
local nursing agencies. A total of 60,964
residents were immunized against influenza.
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“As
the rates of staff immunization in the
tri-county increased, the number of
institutional outbreaks remained fairly
constant but influenza rates and rates of
pneumonia, hospitalization, and death declined
to less than one-third of the previous year.”
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Leeds,
Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit -
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