For years, PLU Health Services, now known as Wellbeing Services and Resources (WSR), had purchased vaccines and recruited nursing students from the PLU School of Nursing (SoN) to provide a flu shot clinic for PLU students, faculty, and staff regardless of insurance status. That is, until this school year.
In an interview with the Dean of Students and Associate Vice President for WSR Eva Frey, she said, “Repeatedly we never used all the vaccines that we purchased, so we wasted money, but it was a service to the community so we just said, okay.” Due to budget cuts that took place last year, PLU instructed Health Services to make changes, resulting in the flu shot clinic being cut.
It is unclear where the disconnect in communication occurred, but SoN was not informed of these changes until it was too late to brainstorm collaboration with other partners. Either way, WSR began to explore other alternatives.
On October 16, 2023, PLU announced via an email from the Student Life Office that they would partner with the Washington State Department of Health (DOH) to offer the vaccine clinic for the local neighborhood, including the PLU campus.
On October 19, the Care-A-Van mobile health clinic service provided by the DOH was set up in the University Center to administer flu shots. The advertisement email from the Student Life Office stated, “Bring your insurance card if you have one…No ID or insurance required.”
Upon arrival, many students and staff were shocked to find that having insurance would disqualify their opportunity to use this resource. Student Grace Karns said, “Everyone around me had insurance and were being turned down and got very angry. This included PLU staff members who were there.”
The Care-A-Van website stated in bold, “Insured adults cannot receive COVID-19 or flu vaccine at Care-A-Van events at this time.” This was not communicated to WSR prior to the flu shot clinic.
When asked about these changes, Raechel Sims, the Public Information Officer for the DOH wrote in an email, “The purpose of Care-A-Van is to serve those most in need, including marginalized communities.” Sims went on to say, “…[W]e prioritized what little we had to serve the uninsured… Once more inventory of the new formulation was available, we resumed offering vaccines to both insured and uninsured individuals.”
Dr. Frey commented about the outcomes of the flu clinic, saying “[T]he solution was not the solution, and we had to find it out in real-time. I don’t like creating hope and expectation and then not being able to provide, and that is what it felt like to me”
In a recent conversation with Dr. Frey, she informed The Mast that conversations are back in the works between WSR and the SoN to reinstate the flu shot clinic for next academic year, reinstating the fall tradition.
