Hundreds shot in Walsenburg

by Bill Knowles
WALSENBURG—It was reported at the commissioners meeting that nearly 500 people in Huerfano County were given flu shots during the second annual “Drive Thru” flu clinic, sponsored by the Huerfano-Las Animas Counties health department.
It was officially a part of the emergency preparedness bi-county exercise to see how the health department would respond in an emergency that called for mass vaccinations.
“This was a very successful exercise,” Mary Garcia, Executive Director of the bi-county health department said. “This year we gave 487 flu shots using 50 volunteers. In 2010 we gave out 384 shots with 47 volunteers.”
The cost for the exercise this year was around $20,000 as compared to $26,000 from last year. “In 2010 we had a grant to cover our costs so some people who participated were paid. This year the costs came out of the Health Department’s general fund.”
In giving her report to the Huerfano County Commissioners during last Wednesday’s meeting she extended her thanks and recognition for the help that the county’s emergency management office extended.
Also involved with the exercise were the Sheriff’s Department, the Walsenburg Police Department, Spanish Peaks Regional Health Center, the Pueblo EMT Class who administered the shots, the John Mall High School cheerleaders and many other groups from the community.
The county commissioners approved, on a 3-0 vote, to sign a letter verifying the numbers for Richard McEntee’s 2008 taxes on his Black Diamond Park properties. The numbers were decided on at a county commission meeting two weeks ago.
Heard in the courthouse hallway, a discussion between two county commissioners and a representative from Shell Oil, who was requesting holding a meeting in the back room of a restaurant. No date, place, or time has been announced.