Don’t wait, vaccinate!

Safeguard yourself, your team and our community — get your flu shot

As we enter the beginning of fall, we all know what that means — back to school, Friday night lights and pumpkin spice lattes, and the advent of flu season. The flu shot is our best defense to prevent influenza, reduce hospitalizations and keep our patients safe from respiratory illnesses caused by the flu.

Why get vaccinated against the flu?

• Reduce severity of illness if you do get sick.
• Reduce risk of flu-associated hospitalization.
• It’s an important preventative tool if you have a chronic health condition, like heart disease, diabetes and more.
• Protect pregnant people during and after pregnancy and their infants during their first few months of life.
• Be lifesaving in children.
• Protect the most vulnerable in our community, like our patients, elders and babies.
• No patient, employee or provider harm is acceptable to us. 

Despite these many benefits, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), only about half of Americans get an annual flu vaccine. During an average flu season, according to the CDC, flu can cause millions of illnesses, hundreds of thousands of hospitalizations and tens of thousands of deaths. Many more people could be protected from flu if more people got vaccinated.

That is why I’m encouraging every employee and provider to get their flu shot. It’s easy — we’ll have flu clinics available, see below.

Safeguard yourself, your team and our community — get your flu shot.