by Nancy Braden, Jefferson County Public Health
comments open from December 3 until December 21

Jefferson County Public Health, in partnership with Visiting Nurse Association announced today a couple of changes in locations and times for the upcoming series of H1N1 Flu vaccination clinics in Jefferson County. The H1N1 vaccine is currently available in limited quantities and these clinics are intended for those in the priority groups for receiving vaccine who have been unable to access vaccine through their healthcare provider or who do not have a healthcare provider.

Please check our Web page at prior to day of clinic as it is possible that enough vaccine will be available to open clinics up to general public. You may also download consent forms there.

Vaccination is the best way to protect against this potentially serious disease. While we recommend people be vaccinated against the H1N1 virus, these and future public health H1N1 clinics are voluntary. The following clinics are free of charge.

Clinic Information (Changes are in bold type)
>> Alameda High School: 1255 South Wadsworth Blvd., Lakewood 80232
December 12 & December 19 (9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.)

>> Arvada High School: 7951 W. 65th Ave., Arvada 80004
December 12 & December 19 (9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.)

>> Columbine High School: 6201 South Pierce St., Littleton 80123
December 12 & December 19 (9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.)

>> Evergreen High School: 29300 Buffalo Park Rd., Evergreen 80437
December 12 & December 19 (10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.)

2009 H1N1 School-Located Vaccination Clinics for Priority Groups Only:
>> All children between 6 months and 24 years of age
>> Adults 25 years to 64 years of age with underlying risk conditions
>> Pregnant women
>> Household contacts and caretakers of children under 6 months of age
>> All health-care workers

For more information or to read the full press release, visit the Public Health Web site.

by Tim Carl, Development & Transportation Director
comments open from December 2 until December 20

The other day I stopped by the County’s Planning & Zoning Division and saw folks waiting to be helped on a variety of matters from zoning reviews for a building permit to questions about what they could do on their land. It struck me: we spend a tremendous amount of time meeting with people face to face. Does this make sense from an operational and efficiency standpoint? I say yes. Nothing can replace the human element in what we do.

As a department head in our organization, I have pushed for more use of technology in the way we do business. Today, a citizen can apply for certain types of building permits online. We have seen about a 58% increase in this service. Yes, it helps reduce people traveling to the County building and, in many ways, creates more efficiency in how we operate as an organization.

Over this past year, we have had to reduce the number of employees in our Planning & Zoning Division and Building & Safety Division by three people. That’s a hard thing to do when you stop and think about the human element. Fortunately, we made up those savings through vacancy and retirement. But I still believe that the nature of what we do -- providing service to our citizens on a daily basis -- means that the most important asset I can protect as a department head remains my employees. More often than not, survey responses back from customers laud the importance of face-to-face contact and how helpful our staff was to them.

In the end, we’ll continue to make strides to be as efficient an organization as possible, but we will not remove the human element – it’s simply too important. When our County Commissioners recently held citizen meetings throughout Jefferson County, a resounding theme came back from many – we pay for services and we appreciate what we receive. That’s enough for me to say: Jefferson County remains a customer-friendly environment where you can talk to someone face to face.