Burnaby seniors advocates are worried some seniors will opt out of flu shots after a Fraser Health decision to cut annual clinics at senior centres.
“Because of transportation for seniors, which is really totally inadequate, many won’t go now. That’s the problem,” advocate Elsie Dean told the NOW. “It was easy for seniors to get to their centre and get the flu shot.”
Dean is a member of Voices of Burnaby Seniors (VOBS), a group of local seniors and representatives from agencies that promote seniors’ health, independence and community connectedness.
The group sent a letter to Fraser Health interim board chair Wynne Powell Nov. 6, calling on him to reinstate the clinics.
The health authority has directed seniors to get shots at their doctors’ offices or local pharmacies, but the letter argues many seniors don’t have GPs, and pharmacies may not provide a private, age-friendly space for the shots.
Dean, who has gotten vaccinated at the Confederation seniors centre clinic for about eight years, said she wouldn’t get a shot if it meant waiting in a supermarket or drug store while shoppers stroll by.
“I wouldn’t do it,” she said. “I wouldn’t get a flu shot.”
Brenda Felker, another VOBS member, said she’s done it but won’t go back.
“I wouldn’t do that again,” she said. “I wouldn’t sit in the Safeway like that. You’re sitting in front of the pharmacy and people are lined up. I didn’t enjoy the experience at all.”
Fraser Health has also recommended senior centres bring in pharmacies to put on clinics, but Mary Horton, president of the Bonsor 55+ Society, said her centre has always avoided political and corporate endorsements.
She also doubts the pharmacies would provide the same level of service as Fraser Health.
“A pharmacy is going to send you maybe two people at most, and then you’re going to have a long lineup,” she said.
Horton said she was “absolutely taken aback and surprised” by Fraser Health’s decision to cut the clinics.
The health authority said it made the move in order to focus its resources on children under five years old and on those who use nasal-spray flu vaccines – two groups that can’t be served by pharmacies.
“There are always demands on our resources, and we have a responsibility to make sure we use them to the maximum benefit of everyone in our communities,” Fraser Health spokesperson Tasleem Juma told the NOWin an email. “We know the change in our flu clinics has been difficult for some, and we have heard from seniors in our communities that they would like to see us reinstate the flu shot clinics – something we will keep in mind as we plan for next season’s campaign.”
