Go wash your hands the flu is here

If you haven't gotten your regular flu shot this year, don't delay any longer. There is a good supply this year, and the vaccine is widely available so there should be no problems. Walgreens Drugs offers the vaccine for $24.95 at the most. Most people with Medicare advantage plans or insurance get their shot free.

Walgreens also gives you a cool little red heart-shaped sticker. The idea is that you are getting your shot to benefit your special someone. I put my husband's name on the sticker and stuck it on top of the band-aid on my arm. He thought that was really sweet.  (more...click on title)  Print articles and TV doctors are saying that older folks aren't as liable to get the swine flu or H1N1 virus as younger people, but if they do get sick, older people are hit harder. The LA Times stated: "Experts at the Centers for Disease Control suspect this group might have gained partial resistance by being exposed to previous, though different, swine flu epidemics." The article goes on to say that this virus is more easily spread than the usual seasonal flu so we need to be even more conscious of hand-washing and covering sneezes and coughs.

This is one good thing about the fist-bump fad, and people seem to be much more careful about sneezing and coughing into their elbow rather than covering with the hands, but it is a hard habit to break.

This flu season has tested the limits of already short-handed agencies and seems to have forced schools and medical facilities to be more organized in planning and prioritizing the immunization clinics. In this area, they are offered at fitness centers, walk-in clinics and pharmacies with a wide variety of times and dates.

If we all pay attention and follow the medical community's suggestions, we should be FINE. Now go wash your hands.