In and out in 30 minutes or less

How would you like to get an H1N1 shot without waiting in line for hours and hours, just by making an appointment on the Internet or on the phone?

Move to Brantford or Sault Ste. Marie.

Three years ago, the Brant County Health Unit set up a web-based system for regular flu shot appointments and it’s paying big dividends this year in use for the H1N1 vaccine, program manager Jill Fediurek said Friday.

“Nobody likes waiting,” she noted, saying Brantford-area residents usually spend no more than 30 minutes at the public clinic – including 15 minutes of waiting time after the shot to see if the recipient has an adverse reaction.

“We’re getting a lot of positive feedback.”

A telephone-based system was started by the Algoma Health Unit serving the Sault Ste. Marie area six years ago for regular flu shots to avoid lineups that were getting “completely out of control.” It is now being used to coordinate 1,600 H1N1 vaccinations a day, medical officer of health Dr. Allan Northan told the Star.

“You can save a lot of chaos,” he added. “People who say it can’t be done are people who don’t want to take the time to figure it out. It could work anywhere big or small, you just have to figure it out for your volume and geography. The technology is available.”

Contrast that with Toronto and the GTA, where thousands of people turned out for shots this week and waited for hours, sometimes in vain as clinics closed early. Toronto officials are now handing out appointment slips to people in line – but they must come back later.

The delays have prompted Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak to call on Premier Dalton McGuinty to “fix this mess.”

Referring to the long lineups at Toronto-area clinics, Fediurek said it appears the appointment system is an idea whose time has come, particularly in an area like hers. The Brantford clinic is open from 9 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. with appointments every five minutes, serving 650 people a day.

“Bear in mind we’ve had a couple of years to fine-tune this,” she added. “It’s something to think about, but maybe not in the middle of something like this.”

The Brant and Sault systems also have the advantage of allowing officials to monitor demand, add on more clinics or decide how many nurses are needed at any one time, saving money and resources. – Healthzone.ca