FORMER NFL STAR HELPING SCHOOL KIDS GET FLU SHOTS
Jags alum Tony Boselli’s group teams up with Kettering City Schools.
Students in Kettering KETTERING — City Schools will be offered free flu shots during a threeday program in November and through a partnership with a group founded by a former NFL player.
Kettering is partnering with Healthy Schools, whose founder, former Jacksonville Jaguars player Tony Boselli, wanted to bring high-quality, no-cost health services directly to public school students during the school day.
The partnership will allow students, with parent permission, to receive free flu shots at Kettering schools Nov. 12-14.
“Healthy Schools will step in and try to meet the increased demand in the interest of saving lives, and we are aggressively working with school officials and county and state health officials to devise the strategy that will vaccinate the most children,” Boselli explained in a statement detailing what the Healthy Schools flu vaccine initiative is about.
Kettering school officials were eager to partner on the effort, according to Kari Basson, coordinator of community relations and auxiliary services for the district.
“We jumped at the chance, as this fits directly in with our Strategic Planning Goal No. 5 of supporting the whole person,” she said.
Healthy Schools will bill parent/guardian insurance companies for those who have insurance, and it guarantees that there will be no out-of-pocket cost to any parents if their child gets the vaccine. In other words, if the flu shot is not covered or a parent does not have insurance, there is no cost. Similarly, if a parent’s insurance company has a copay for vaccines, Healthy Schools promises to cover that copay so that there is no cost to the parent.
Betina Irwin, school nurse at
Prass Elementary and the district’s nurse coordinator, said the flu shot is recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
“Medical professionals across the county, as well as the CDC, recommend the flu shot as the No. 1 most effective way to avoid getting the flu,” Irwin said. “Getting a child vaccinated is the best thing a parent can do to protect him or her, to protect yourself and family, and to protect all of the people your child comes in contact with on a daily basis from getting the flu.”
Flu season runs through fall and winter, peaking between December and February.
Dr. F. Stuart Leeds of Wright State Physicians said the annual flu vaccine is particularly important for vulnerable populations such as young children or adults more than 50 years old.
Leeds said people should not wait until the virus is already spreading in the area before they get the vaccine.
“That’s a dangerous game of viral roulette,” said Leeds.
Basson said parents are asked to sign up their child for the flu vaccine by next Monday. The vaccines will be administered at each of the district’s school buildings, and parents who approve participation will be contacted later with details.
No child will be vaccinated unless the child’s parent/ guardian has given Healthy Schools permission to vaccinate, according to school officials.
Parents/guardians can give permission for their child to be vaccinated through a link set up by Healthy Schools: http://bit.ly/2uMQ2Zg.
The link can also be accessed from the district’s website at www.ketteringschools.org. Contact this reporter at 937225-0586 or email Wayne. Baker@coxinc.com.