INDIANAPOLIS — Health officials are sharing the message all the time: "Get your flu shot."
"I've been hearing it a lot, but I think it is important for people to get it," Cindy White said.
It's the reason White and her son, Michael, went to Shepherd Community Center on the near east side to get a flu shot.
But this wasn't an ordinary drive-thru flu clinic.
"The health department, the Department of Homeland Defense, the Indianapolis EMS, Shepherd Community Center all got together and said, 'Let's figure this out from a mass vaccination response,'" said Shane Hardwick, a paramedic with IEMS.
Harwick said this pilot program, held every Wednesday in October, is the first time an EMS agency has been mobilized to provide free mass vaccinations to the community.
IEMS wants to create a roadmap of sorts for other EMS agencies across the state to help with future outbreaks.
Workers also started giving out food to needy families every Wednesday after COVID-10 hit.
Hardwick said they chose the near east side due to the need.
"There's a lot of multigenerational families, so you've got the very young and the very old all living in the same house," Hardwick said. "Those are the people we really want to get into those families and say, 'Let's keep y'all healthy.'"
"I think it's getting bad again. I hate to say it but it's just about climbing in every state," White said. "So, I hope things get better, but I think we got a long ways to go."
It's just another reason why these paramedics are on the front lines protecting others.
The flu clinic is every Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.
You'll find it at the Shepherd Community Center at 4107 E. Washington St.