Thursday, September 30, 1999
Flu shot campaign gets personal
BY :BY SUE MacDONALD
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Don't be surprised if you get a postcard, letter or personally targeted come-on this year urging you to get a flu shot.
Starting this week, people over 65 and others at increased risk from influenza are being encouraged to roll up their sleeves for a flu-shot vaccine to prevent or lessen the effects of the wintertime respiratory disease.
The campaign is organized by the Health Improvement Collaborative of Greater Cincinnati, which last year used billboards and media ads to encourage vaccination against influenza.
“Our message is going to be broader this year and we're doing it at one-sixth the cost because we're not going through the mass media,” says Sonya Hall, coordinator of the collaborative's 1999-2000 flu-shot campaign. Last year's campaign featured a gas-mask-wearing woman on billboards, bus placards and print ads.
The 1999-2000 vaccine targets three influenza viruses that have been circulating elsewhere in the world — A-Beijing, A-Sydney and B-Beijing.
The Health Collaborative is a coalition of health organizations, doctors, hospitals, businesses and agencies working to encourage widespread approaches to common, community health problems.
Most Tristate health departments, retail stores, hospital groups and health agencies will begin offering low-cost flu shots this week and into November. Flu season tends to peak from December through April. It usually takes several weeks for the vaccine to build sufficient immunity in the body.
Last year's outreach targeted senior citizens, but that emphasis was changed this year because the collaborative found that 70 percent of area seniors received flu shots, Ms. Hall says.
The 1999-2000 goal is to vaccinate individuals who are at risk of the flu and its complications, and health-care workers who come in contact with the disease. The collaborative hopes to vaccinate at least 50 percent of the people in both groups.
“This year, we decided to focus much more narrowly, and we decided to take a direct-mail strategy,” says Ms. Hall. To wit:
• Paycheck stuffers, fliers, posters and personalized letters will be targeted to area health-care workers, encouraging them to get a flu shot. The campaign is sponsored by all major hospitals and health-care employers.
In 1998-99, Mercy Health Partners increased from 33 percent to 43 percent the number of its employees who received flu shots, decreasing by 40 percent the number of employees who took time off during the flu season for respiratory problems, Ms. Hall says.
• Individual letters or postcards will be mailed to 40,000-50,000 Tristate residents identified as high-risk patients by four local managed care organizations. Joining in this effort are ChoiceCare/Humana, Anthem, United Healthcare and PacifiCare. High-risk people are those with chronic health problems, including diabetes, lung disease, heart disease or weak immune systems, because they are more susceptible to influenza and its complications.
• Influenza and flu-shot information packets will be mailed to 2,200 Tristate physicians, urging them to make sure their high-risk patients also obtain flu shots.
• Targeted newspaper advertisements in the Enquirer and the Cincinnati Post will alert residents to the availability of flu shots and the flu-shot hotline operated by the collaborative (931-7468).The 1998-99 hotline logged 1,300 calls.
• Workplace flu shots will be offered by existing providers and newcomer Interim Health Care, of Columbus. Two firms that provided nearly 70,000 flu shots at local companies last year no longer do so (United Home Care quit offering the service, and Proactive Health Care is no longer in business). Interim has stepped in to offer flu shots at Kroger and Meijer stores.
Ms. Hall says exact numbers are not available on how many flu shots were administered in 1998-99, although local health departments increased by 14 percent the number they provided. A survey of community doctors, to be completed this fall, will provide better statistics on the reach and scope of last year's flu-shot program.
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