More than 110 University of Iowa pharmacy students are taking shifts and volunteering to provide flu vaccinations at Iowa City-area drug stores and grocery stores over the next few months.
Organizers of the effort say the students are helping immunize the community while easing the strain on our healthcare system by providing convenient and accessible options.
Kelly Vu, a third-year UI pharmacy student from Sioux City, says she looks forward to providing the service. “I really do love vaccinating the community,” Vu says, “and I just think it’s really important that everyone gets vaccinated in order to help prevent the spread of diseases.”
Vu learned how to give shots in her first year in the College of Pharmacy and heard stories of how decades ago, students practiced their syringe skills using a piece of fruit, like a peach. “We had little like mannequin arms to practice onto,” Vu says, “not a peach but a very similar process.”
Second-year pharmacy student Jacob Kooko-Ludemann, who grew up in northern Wisconsin, says he sees this program as providing an important community service.
“I signed up for it because, just like northern Wisconsin, some places have difficulties receiving the vaccine,” Kooko-Ludemann says, “so the more students we can get to be out in the community and give vaccines, we’ll just help people have more access to the vaccines and more access to health care in general.”
This project is offering pharmacy students valuable lessons they can’t get in the classroom, like how to try and put someone at ease before sticking them in the arm.
“What I like to do is, I like to talk to them, ask them how their day is going and make sure that if they are nervous, sometimes you can tell they’re nervous, they might be shaking or the words are little slurred,” Kooko-Ludemann says. “So just getting to know them a little bit before jumping right into it and giving them a shot, that usually helps them to get to know me better, and lets them know that I’m not there to hurt them, I’m there to help them.”
This in-store training started at the UI in 2004. The CDC recommends a yearly flu shot, as research shows it can reduce influenza illnesses by 40 to 60 percent, and if we get the vaccine sooner rather than later, we can avoid a strain on our healthcare system.