Flu Shot Clinic

Inside the flu shot clinic at the Carleton Place Arena

For those of you who followed yesterday on Twitter, the flu shot clinic here in Carleton Place was well run and very successful.  The clinic was open from 1 – 7pm and the lines were long, but moving well, which made people pretty happy.

The day dawned cool but not frigid and there was little or no wind.  I decided to drive by the arena at 8 am to see if they were handing out arm bands,  and at 8:21….no arm bands, but the lines had already started.  There were about 25 people in line, including parents with little babies who were obviously planning a wait of 4 1/2 hours, which boggles the mind. I had a huge bag of warm clothes, food, water, Kleenex, a book and hand warmers. I’ve decided that hand warmers (those little things you shake to activate the heat) are MAGIC!  They kept my hands so warm and I hardly even thought about the cold.

I got to the arena at about 10:45, right after storytime, and this is what the line up looked like in front of me.

Not too bad.  And I should have counted how many library patrons were there.  I could have easily gone down the line and picked out every second person as someone who regularly comes to the library.  Great!  Readers and health conscious!  Here was the line behind me about a half hour after that:

Pretty soon after that, it stretched out about three times the length here, but it moved quickly.  And people who popped into the library later this afternoon that had been in line said the wait was pretty short.  Ten nurses, a very efficient system and resonable lines will hopefully make everyone happy. They were also very particular about making sure everyone was on the priority list.

There were a lot of great stories out there yesterday….from the mother who stood in line and breast-fed her tiny baby in the freezing cold, to dedicated moms, dads and grandmothers who held places in line and called to have the children brought to the arena once they were about to go in.  It really was a community event…people shared chairs when someone got tired, others passed around cookies, granola bars and juice boxes for the little ones and everyone shared what little information they knew.  This really is the information age….from twitters that updated the event live, to people texting information about line lengths, wait times and forms, it was easy to find out what was going on and what we could expect.

Thanks to my sweet mother-in-law Glenwyn who stopped by to see if I needed anything (like a bathroom break) and a huge thanks to our wonderful librarian Janet who came up with a tea for me, one for my mother and a hot chocolate for my niece!  It was greatly appreciated!

We’re now on Twitter!

We’re now on Twitter! Yes, you can now follow our tweets from the Carleton Place Public Library!  We’ll keep you informed about special library activities, daily happenings and general interest items. We might post about new books or what’s happening with our book sale, but it’ll be fun.  You can see all of our tweets on the right hand side of this blog, or follow us by clicking on the little bird below!

Starting tomorrow…follow Heidi on her quest for the H1N1 vaccination at the Carleton Place Arena.

We stood in line

I am in one of the high risk groups for H1N1 and although Carleton Place will be having a flu shot clinic on Wednesday, November 4th, a child of someone who works with my husband has been diagnosed with H1N1, so we decided to try to get the shot ASAP!  So yesterday, I left work early and we headed over to the neighbouring town of Smiths Falls and got in line.  The clinic there started at 3pm and I knew that many people would have lined up even earlier than that, but we got there by 5pm and it was to stay open until 9pm, so we thought we had a good chance.

When we arrived, the line up to the school was very long.  There were easily 500 – 600 people in the line ahead of us and as people came out, they told us they had been there since 2pm (a 3 – 4 hour wait).  But the line moved and that was reassuring.  It was pretty cold, but thankfully, there was no wind and it didn’t rain, so it was just a matter of putting up with the cold.  Many people brought coffee and snacks and although they recommended lawn chairs, we didn’t really see anyone with one.  We hadn’t stopped to eat, but I didn’t care.  We were there with a purpose and a little hunger wouldn’t hurt.

I couldn’t get over how many people were there with little children.  It was so cold and the wait was bound to be three hours or more, so it was a difficult situation for many of them, I’m sure.  But all of the kids were so good.  You didn’t hear any of them crying or complaining.  Many parents tag-teamed and either went back to the car with a child to warm up, or stood in line saving their spot.  This flu clinic was held in a school, so many people drove their cars up and pulled the kids in while they waited, which was a great idea.

The local radio station had parked a truck with a speaker and blasted music to keep everyone entertained, but around 6pm, they drove off and many people commented that even the entertainment people didn’t want to hang around.  All in all, I think spirits were good and no one really complained.

Around 6:30pm, a nurse came out of the school and walked down the long line.  By this time, we had made our way about half-way to the school.  There was still a long line in front of us, but also a growing one behind us, stretching back out to the point we had started from.  The nurse seemed to be counting…..and she came to a stop 5 people ahead of us.  They were stopping there.  Oh, the sense of defeat cannot be explained!

Ahead of us were a mother who had brought her daughter who was in nursing school.  She begged with the nurse to let her daughter into the line, pleading that this was her only opportunity and as a health care worker, she had to have the shot.  As well, there was a couple with their 2 year old and a man who simply walked out of the line when the nurse made her decision.  The pleading from behind us was evident also.  A woman with a pre-existing condition was very upset, and we were also in front of a fire-fighter who needed the shot.  There were many disappointed people, but of course, the decision was made.  There would not be enough time or flu shots for everyone there that night and they had to make a decision.

So, at 6:30, we were cut off and in a way, I wasn’t disappointed.  It was an absolution of sorts…..we had tried and we didn’t just give up because it was cold.  We could go home with a clear conscience, back to the warmth and have something to eat and try again later this week.  In some ways, I felt sorry for the people who were the last ones to be let in.  They still had at least two more hours to wait out in the cold and it was getting darker by the minute. Many of them had little children, and those that had been playing around in the park area would probably not be able to do that for much longer.  Now the hard part would begin.

I have a plan for Wednesday,and even though it will involve standing for several hours again, I am determined to get the shot this time.  At least it will be daytime as our clinic begins at 1pm.  I think they’re calling for snow on Wednesday, but I’ll bundle up and brave the elements.  Maybe I’ll bring my camera and blog about it next week.  I should think about tweeting in line.  It might be interesting. Wish me luck!

Turkey Rhubarb is coming!

We’re excited that musical group Turkey Rhubarb is coming to Carleton Place on Thursday, August 13th!  The Carleton Place Public Library will be welcoming this diverse group from Guelph, Ontario with a show at the Carleton Place Town Hall Auditorium at 10am.  Tickets are already on sale at the library for $4.00 each or you can buy them at the door the morning of the show. We are expecting a nice crowd that morning so come and join us for some music, fun and laughter.  This program is appropriate for kids ages 3 – 12 and parents will enjoy it also.  You can find out more about the group, listen to some music and even purchase a CD at their site Turkey Rhubarb.ca

Paper can get you noticed

After going to the Almonte fair last weekend, my husband started thinking about what they could do to improve the site and get more people to attend.  Although I’m sure it was very well attended throughout the weekend, it got me thinking about how places and events promote themselves and what it takes to get people excited about visiting.  Often, you hear of people traveling to obscure little towns just to see something unique and I wonder why we couldn’t do that right here in Carleton Place?  Of curse, it would take some creativity and commitment, but it could be done.

For example, we have many artistic and crafty people in the area but aside from the typical art installation of painting and sculpture, why couldn’t we do something more creative that would draw people to visit.  Like this:

And just what are these?  Paper sculptures, of course!  A Tokyo art student named Wataru Itou designed this paper creation which he calls “Castle on the Water” done on paper with lighting and even a moving train.  It took four years to construct the piece which is on display at Umihotaru, a place “which in itself is a major attraction: a service area in the middle of the ocean, right between Tokyo City and Chiba Prefecture”. There are more wonderful photos of the display here. You can see an actual photo of the area along with Google Earth mappings of the site right here.

So why couldn’t we do the same with our own Town Hall, for example?  It would certainly be interesting.  Can you think of another great image of our town that could be fashioned in this way?

Carleton Place is an exurb

(photo of the Carleton Place Town Hall by Julescamp)

Recently, I came across a new term that I had never heard before in reference in Carleton Place.  Apparently, our town is an “exurb”. Just what is an exurb?  It stands for “extra-urban”  and according to Wikipedia, it describes  “a ring of prosperous communities beyond the actual suburbs that are the commuter towns for an urban area.  Most exurbs serve as commuter towns, but most commuter towns are not exurbs”.  So, does this apply to us?  Yes.  Carleton Place is definitely a bedroom community with many people who live in the town but work right in the city.  We are not considered a suburb because we are too far out from the city, I suppose, a very separate entity.

Where does the term exurb come from?  It was coined back in 1955 in a book called ” The Exurbanites”  by August Comte Spectorsky.  Exurbs often grow to become suburbs of larger cities and very rarely, they can become cities themselves.

I thought this term was fascinating and it goes up there with my list of new words for the year.  Is your town an exurb?