Wilmington, Del.-based Christiana Care Health System on Oct. 11 held a mass flu vaccination campaign for employees across more than 70 healthcare locations in four states.
Christiana Care usually vaccinates its nearly 12,000-employee workforce over a span of several weeks. This year's effort represents the most ambitious employee flu vaccination campaign in Christiana Care's history.
"The whole goal is to find a way to keep employees safe, so we can protect our patients and visitors from getting the flu," Hiran Ratnayake, senior manager of media relations for Christiana Care, told Becker's. "We wanted to do it in a way that was easier for them."
The health system set up flu vaccination stations at Newark, Del.-based Christiana Hospital and Wilmington Hospital and relied on a roving team to drop off flu shot kits at its satellite facilities in Delaware, Maryland and New Jersey during the campaign. As of Oct. 11 at 9 p.m., the health system had vaccinated 7,597 employees, although this number will likely increase in the coming days as more vaccination records from its satellite locations are captured, according to Mr. Ratnayake.
The campaign, which used the hashtag #hitmewithyourflushot, included guest appearances from local mascots, therapy dogs and radio hosts to provide entertainment for employees waiting to receive a flu shot.
The vaccination effort also served as a drill in case the health system ever needs to vaccinate its entire workforce in response to a bioterrorism attack.
"It was a good way to test out how much we can do and see where we succeeded," said Mr. Ratnayake. "That's why we decided to take on this ambitious effort."
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