Record for flu clinic in Nahant

NAHANT – The annual Nahant flu clinic drew 190 people on its first day alone, which nurses and Town Hall workers agreed was the biggest turnout at the event in institutional memory.?We?ve never had such a large crowd,” said Town Hall worker Mary Ellen Schumann Thursday as she rushed to get more chairs for the main room at Town Hall.Nurse Ruth Titus guessed she?s been administering flu shots at Nahant Town Hall since 1989, and still said Wednesday?s and Thursday?s turnout was a “good crowd.”Titus said she thought the turnout was such because there?s been more education every year, as well as worsening strains of the flu. But stronger vaccines that target four strains at once are more effective than ever, she added.Though Thursday?s crowd was mostly seniors and parents with children, Titus said she recommends everyone get the flu shot. She admitted she used to not get it herself until one year she got a bad case.Resident Fred Murphy said that?s exactly why he attends the flu clinic in Nahant every year. “I can?t risk being sick,” he said. Ever since Murphy was sick with the flu three years in a row, he doesn?t miss the annual clinic, he said.Karen Hansell, who stood in line on Thursday, said she hasn?t been sick yet since she started getting shots five years ago.?The flu is a nasty thing, and as you get older it gets nastier,” she said, though she admitted even if that wasn?t exactly proven, if sure felt like it. Hansell said as a teacher, the flu shot is her first line of defense against her students, whom she called “delightful, wonderful little disease-breeders.”Titus laughed at she recalled one patient and his reasons for braving the needle. “Some little kid told me yesterday that he was getting the shot so he ?wouldn?t throw up,? ” she said, smiling.Titus said her favorite part of the clinic is that she can see town residents as they come to her for shots. Titus, a home healthcare nurse, said the clinic can feel “like a big reunion for me.”