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2008 Drive-up Flu-Shot Clinic A Hit Once Again

The first vehicle rolled up to the circular drive in front of McCready Hospital’s historic administration building Friday around 9:15 a.m. -- a good 45 minutes before the official start of McCready's 23rd annual drive-up flu-shot clinic.

Inside were Beatrice and Samuel Culver of Marion.

They had come to get a flu shot, and since both are 66, each received a free vaccine because they are Medicare card holders.

“This is good,” Beatrice Culver said. “You can’t beat the price.”

The Culvers have been regulars at the drive-up / stick-your-arm-out-the-window flu-shot clinic for the past four years.

“They seem to have it down right,” Samuel Culver said. “They’re faster than I remember” in years past.

Since 1985, the hospital has been offering Crisfielders and their Somerset County neighbors low-cost flu shots as a community service.

This year, the shots were $5 - the best value in preventive healthcare on the Delmarva Peninsula.

Some 334 vaccines were administered during two, four-hour sessions -- one Friday (Halloween) and a second Saturday.

A steady stream of cars and pick-up trucks and SUVs drove past several checkpoints each day, including one manned Friday by Susan Hill of the hospital’s human resources department. She handed motorists a trick-or-treat bag filled with health brochures, some candy, pretzels, a pencil and a coupon for a free specialty coffee at McDonalds.

After a blustery earlier part of the week, the skies over the Cork Point peninsula were cloudless and the sun glistened off the nearby Little Annemessex River.

Jan Monheiser, a newcomer to Marion, described the low-cost flu-shot program as “wonderful. I think it’s great. We’re very lucky to have this hospital here in our community.”

Paula Holmes of Hopewell shelled out $5 for a vaccine because at 50, she’s not yet eligible for a Medicare card, which entitled holders to a free shot.

“I was ecstatic” to pay $5, Holmes said. “I paid $20 last year at the health department. What I like about (the service) is that it’s quick. This community is fortunate to have this hospital.”

People from as far away as Pennsylvania, Georgia and the Eastern Shore of Virginia who were in the area took advantage of the flu shot clinic. One woman who rode a bike over from Somers Cove, where her boat was moored. She was on vacation and missed a chance to get one offered by her employer in Berkeley, Calif.

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