Community Foundation Funds Free Flu Shots

Sup­port­ing the health of our most vul­ner­a­ble neigh­bors dur­ing COVID-19 is crit­i­cal as we enter the win­ter months on San Juan Island. To help reduce the risk of influen­za, SJICF recent­ly grant­ed $15k to help fund flu vac­ci­na­tions for res­i­dents who could not oth­er­wise afford one.

The grant funds were award­ed in late Sep­tem­ber to San Juan Coun­ty Health and Com­mu­ni­ty Ser­vices. Fund­ing was made pos­si­ble by com­mu­ni­ty dona­tions to the SJICF Com­mu­ni­ty Emer­gency Response Fund, cre­at­ed in March at the start of the COVID-19 health crisis.

While the flu vac­ci­na­tion will not pre­vent COVID-19, it will help to reduce the spread of influen­za in the com­mu­ni­ty by pro­vid­ing 800 vac­cines to com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers who may not oth­er­wise get a flu shot due to finan­cial bar­ri­ers or lack of insur­ance coverage.

San Juan Coun­ty Health and Com­mu­ni­ty Ser­vices will part­ner with Peace Island Med­ical Cen­ter, Fri­day Har­bor Drug, San Juan Island EMS, Even­tide Health, and San Juan Island Pub­lic School Dis­trict to admin­is­ter the vac­cines via a dri­ve-through service.

Accord­ing to SJHCS Direc­tor Mark Tomp­kins, this dri­ve-through flu clin­ic will also serve as an impor­tant test mod­el to even­tu­al­ly pro­vide COVID-19 vac­ci­na­tions effi­cient­ly while fol­low­ing safe phys­i­cal dis­tanc­ing protocol.

Since March, SJICF has raised more than $233k for the Emer­gency Response Fund and has award­ed near­ly $180k in grants to help fund edu­ca­tion, health and human ser­vices, and small busi­ness needs dur­ing the crisis.

To donate to SJICF or to the Emer­gency Response Fund, call 360–378-1001 or vis­it sjicf.org.

Estab­lished in 1994, SJICF is cel­e­brat­ing more than 25 years of suc­cess in grant­i­ng funds to local non­prof­its and pro­vid­ing schol­ar­ships to local stu­dents through the gen­eros­i­ty of donors who wish to improve the qual­i­ty of life on San Juan Island. SJICF’s mis­sion is the help the San Juan Island com­mu­ni­ty thrive through inspired and informed gen­eros­i­ty and the Foundation’s trust­ed stew­ard­ship. To learn more, vis­it sjicf.org.

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