KC9LFD.org

A few days ago I received an email about Columbia County needing assistance with their H1N1 vaccination clinic at Portage High School. They only have 1,500 doses, so we all figured there would be a massive swarm of people.

The Layout
With the clinic being at the high school, there were 2 parking lots available to use. There were 2 ARES members stationed near the first parking lot for overflow parking, 2 members at the primary parking lot directing traffic into the lot and down rows with empty spaces. Myself and one other member were stationed at the front door, 1 member was at the exit to ensure nobody tried to sneak in, and 1 or 2 people were inside offering assistance.

The Start
Even an hour before the clinic opened, people started lining up. Within a half hour there were at least 200 people standing in line. We figured this is how it was going to be all day. There was no trouble with all of those people in line, some students and people needed to be escorted inside the building to the bathroom or the main office for school related stuff.

The Results
Within 10 minutes of the clinic opening, the line was processed in the building. Since the initial arrival of people, the amount of people showing up slowly trickled down from there. Maybe 1 or 2 people every 10 minutes for the next 4 hours. It was non stop excitement. Just kidding. It was considerably slower than expected, but at least we had the staff there just in case there was a massive flood. Even at 1700 hours the traffic never seemed to pick up.

My Gear
Besides bringing my sexy self, I packed a few things with me:

• My HT with earpiece (most people had speaker/mic’s)
• Traffic directing flashlight
• Extra batteries for the flashlight
• Backup traffic directing LED glow stick
• My reflective vest with name tag
• Gloves (very handy!)

I didn’t bring a backup battery for my HT though I did give it a top off charge the night before. I keyed up maybe 4 times at 2 watts (though low power, 0.5 watts, would have been more than enough).

Overall
From the Columbia County EC:

“Well we did it again folks! I received many thanks from EM Pat Beghin, County Health Officer Susan Lorenz and Portage Police Chief Ken Manthey. It is hard for anyone to predict how these types of things will go. Based on the original line of an estimated 300 people before the doors even opened I don’t think anyone expected it to be as low key as it was. Our previous contacts with Portage Daily Register reporter Lyn Jerde is helping out too!!

73
Rich Green KC9FNM”