Photo: President Jarrell receives a flu vaccination at the UMB Student and Campus Health Clinic.
We have all read the posters in our pharmacies and heard the coughs in our elevators: Flu and COVID season is upon us. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that the best way to reduce your risk of getting flu or COVID is to get vaccinated each year, and it recommends timing flu vaccines early in the season. Getting vaccinated also helps protect your family and co-workers.
In our commitment to campus health, the School of Medicine's Department of Family & Community Medicine is pulling out all the stops to boost immunity across UMB’s community this season, starting in the Office of the President. Last week, UMB President Bruce E. Jarrell, MD, FACS, was first in line at our makeshift clinic on the 14th Floor of the Saratoga Building. When asked about getting his vaccines, he replied with a laugh, “It’s the easiest thing [I’ll do today].” We treated 20-plus staff in that building and then another 20-plus a few blocks away in the Dean of Medicine’s Office.
The Department of Family & Community Medicine has delivered more than 1,000 vaccines this year, and our syringe skills have not gone unnoticed. Many of the UMB staff in the President’s and Dean’s offices commented on how painless it was. “I’m coming to you for every shot,” one participant remarked.
Every member of the UMB campus matters to us, from the Office of the President to the front desk. We also know that prevention is one of the tenets of health and vitality.
The Student and Campus Health Clinic is here for your comprehensive health needs, from vaccines to sports medicine to sick and well visits. We’re open Monday-Friday, from 7 a.m.-5 p.m., at 408 W. Lombard St. (phone extension, 4-2233). We accept visits by walk-in or appointment. We look forward to seeing you!