A line of Sedro-Woolley teachers and staff wound their way through a cluster of tables covered with sanitized injection needles and biohazard boxes.
County nurses and a contracted diagnostic company filled the room with immunization and blood-sample stations at the Sedro-Woolley School District Administrative Office one week ago. They came to immunize those behind on their shots and check to make sure the others were safe in the event of an outbreak.
Some of school personnel grumbled about being there, but the ultimate goal was keeping an unexpected age group safe from mumps, measles and rubella.
After a four-person mumps outbreak in Skagit County in September, the health department has targeted adults in the schools to make sure they’re immune.
“Typically you see this as a childhood disease,” County Nurse Maryl Skjei said. But the county found the opposite when four adults came down with mumps in the county. “The younger kids are being protected better, and the older ones are the susceptible group.”
That discovery spurred unusual action at the Skagit County Health Department. Dr. Howard Leibrand used his authority to change the recommendation of one immunization for measles, mumps and rubella to two and sent immunization clinics out to the school districts.
The department set up immunization clinics at school districts in Mount Vernon, Burlington, Sedro-Woolley, Conway, La Conner, Anacortes and Concrete.
The health department couldn’t immunize or test the whole county, but they could target adults at schools, who see most of the area’s children.
“We had a more direct connection with school staff, so we’ve seen a greater coordinated response,” Skjei said.
Nurses from Medical Diagnostic Laboratory Inc. of Mount Vernon took the blood samples and tested to see if the teachers were immune. The data was collected and reported back to the teachers, who were strongly encouraged to update their immunization.
Teachers must be immunized to work in the schools. If they are not, Skjei said, the teachers must stay home during outbreaks.
Of the 537 teachers who visited the clinics, 15 percent were not immune to mumps, measles or rubella, Skjei said.
“We were very pleased,” Skjei said. “It made extra work for us, but in the long run we’ll be way ahead of the game.”
Although the teachers had to wait in line and pay clinic fees to be poked with a needle, Skjei said it’s worth it overall.
“We heard some grumbling about it, but it’s going to save a lot of grief in the future if we have an outbreak,” Skjei said.
* Aaron Burkhalter can be reached at 360-416-2141 or .
