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FALL RIVER – New students arriving in the Fall River School District will need to be up-to-date on their vaccinations before entering classes, however, for some, the lack of mandatory vaccinations may delay the start of their studies.
Today, those barriers are being removed thanks to a collaboration between Fall River EMS and the school department, which just introduced a childhood immunization clinic.
“We had trouble getting appointments for our newly enrolled students to get vaccinated,” said Mary Gustave, chair of the school’s nursing department. “There is a challenge with implementing their massive fitness insurance, as well as a shortage of providers. It may take up to a month to vaccinate children.
So, Gustave and Tracy Costa, a registered nurse at the school department’s PACE Center, began looking for solutions.
Costa said he reached out to City Manager Seth Aitken to see if it’s a service the school branch could use and if there’s investment available.
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“He said, ‘Why can’t our own EMS do this?’So we talked to Captain Nicholas Silva and here we are.
Thursday, Nov. 9, the first day of the vaccination clinic and led by EMS Deputy Director Bethann Faunce, Silva, EMS Lt. Michael Leduc and Paramedic Allie Anacki.
“Some of these young people are not adequately insured. So, the fact that they’re underinsured is a barrier to getting a doctor’s appointment and immunizations, and that creates a barrier to going to school,” Faunce said.
Once Mayor Paul Coogan gave EMS the green light, Faunce said he asked the state for a vaccination site for children.
“We are the first municipal emergency department in the state to work with a department to vaccinate children. We innovate,” Faunce said.
Providing proof of vaccination or being undervaccinated is a particular barrier for immigrant children seeking to attend school after arriving in the U. S. The new clinic can speed up the process for those students to get into the classroom.
The clinic’s first patient is a young woman whose relatives arrived from Brazil 15 days ago, Gustavo said.
Without the new childhood immunization clinic, the little woman would most likely not be able to attend school for at least a month between applying for fitness insurance and finding a provider to administer the necessary vaccines.
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“Now school will start on Monday,” says Gustave. This way you will learn English much faster and integrate much faster. “
Costa said that since new students are known to need a full series of vaccines or follow-up shots, they hope to run the clinic through Mobile Integrated Health Care’s EMS division, twice a week and serve between 16 and 20 children per week. .
“The need is there,” says Gustave.
Including vaccinations for eligible youth under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, a federal law created for the enrollment and schooling of homeless students, so those youth can enter school without the required immunizations.
“These young people are allowed to enter school without vaccinations, but we want to monitor them and get them the necessary vaccines,” Gustavo said.
Sixteen-year-old Sebastian came to the clinic with his mother and younger siblings to get vaccinated.
Recently arrived from Ecuador, Sebastian said through performer Adelysha Mercado that he is ahead to start 10th grade at his new school at B. M. C. Durfée High School.
“Let it happen quickly, as soon as possible,” Mercado said.
This article made the impression in The Herald News: Fall River Schools and EMS collaborate to launch new vaccination clinic.
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