Senator Parker Protected 200 Seniors Against the Flu This Season

Brooklyn, NY- On Friday, November 1, 2013, Senator Kevin Parker and event sponsors Citi Home Health Care Services and WellCare, provided free influenza vaccinations for seniors and children in his district. As part of a broad-reaching effort to keep his constituents and Brooklyn residents healthy, Senator Parker, and event sponsors WellCare, Citi Health Home Care, Walgreens, administered more than 60 free flu shots, by a certified nurse practitioners from Walgreen’s Pharmacy, at Lenox Road Baptist Church.

“Every year I encourage seniors, pregnant women and children to get the shot, not the flu,” said Senator Parker. “I especially want to thank Dr. Kirkpatrick Cohall, presiding pastor at Lenox Road Baptist Church and his team, Dr. Fanell Alerte, President of Citi Health, the team at WellCare and the team at Walgreens. Their dedication to our community’s health means there will now be approximately 200 less cases of flu in my district this winter as a result of the three free flu shot events we partnered on in the past two weeks,” the Brooklyn lawmaker continued.

Vaccination remains a critical preventive measure against influenza and its potentially severe complications. Everyone aged 6 months and older, particularly those in higher-risk groups, such as older adults, young children, pregnant women, people of any age with underlying chronic conditions (e.g., chronic lung and cardiovascular disease or a metabolic or endocrine disorder such as diabetes), and health care workers, should be routinely immunized each year. All services at the event were free and available to the public, who arrived on a first come first served basis.

“I really am impressed that we expanded our collective networks and worked with Lenox Road Baptist Church, Senator Parker and Walgreens to ensure Brooklyn residents were serviced,” said Lavon Gallaway, Outreach Coordinator at WellCare. “This was an ideal opportunity for us to also provide vital health care information to all those who attended while they waited for their flu vaccination.”

For more information on the flu vaccine, visit the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene website at http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/flu/html/public/flu_facts.shtml.

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 About Senator Kevin Parker

Senator Kevin S. Parker is intimately familiar with the needs of his ethnically diverse Brooklyn community that consists of 318,000 constituents in Flatbush, East Flatbush, Midwood, Ditmas Park, Kensington, Windsor Terrace, and Park Slope.  He is the Ranking Member of the Senate Energy and Telecommunications Committee and Committee on Alcoholism and Substance Abuse, Assistant Democratic Leader for Intergovernmental Affairs, and Chair of the Democratic Task Force on New Americans.