If residents of Quebec province in Canada have seen reduced waiting times at flu vaccination centers, they can thank the wonderful world of Disney.
Denis Beaudoin, a regional health official, had became obsessed with how to deliver shots to thousands of people without long queues. One night, in the throes of insomnia, he had a eureka moment. He recalled his family visit to Walt Disney World and its popular Fastpass, which allows visitors to get a ticket for a ride at a later time slot.
If it worked for Snow White, why not for a flu shot?
He began instituting the ticket system in the city of Gatineau near Ottawa in late October, at a time when vaccination centers around Montreal were still chaotic scenes of mothers, baby strollers and outraged pensioners standing in lines for as long as seven hours.
Quebec Health Minister Yves Bolduc visited Gatineau at the time in late October and, impressed, announced the coupon system across the province. A Quebec health official says they're mandatory wherever lines exceed one hour.
Other cities across Canada have turned to wristbands and timed tickets to reduce lineups for vaccines too, though Quebec's system is provincewide and appears to be the only one inspired by the Magic Kingdom.
Lines are still forming at some vaccination centers, where people are queuing up early just to get their coupons. But officials say the system has been effective. At one vaccination center in Montreal's Plateau Mont Royal district recently, nurses and health workers outnumbered people in line.
"The system is marvelous," said Johanne Spencer, who'd whisked through her vaccination. "You know what time you're going to have your turn and you know how long you'll have to wait. You don't waste three, four hours in line."
Montreal adopted the coupon system for all 17 vaccination centers across the city.
"Something had to be done," said Deborah Bonney, a spokeswoman for the Montreal-region health and social service agency. "At the beginning, we had no idea people were going to line up in the dark of the early morning in the cold. Confronted with the situation, the coupon system seemed to be the best option. It seems to have done the trick."
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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