Donations tripled in flu shot campaign

With proof you’ve been vaccinated, you can help three local charities at a time when they need it most.

Oak Knoll Insurance & Tax Strategies and Oak Knoll Financial Strategies is tripling its donations for every person who brings evidence that they’ve recently been vaccinated.

Jackie Danalewich, communications manager for Oak Knoll, says it makes sense to recommend that everyone protect themselves from an illness such as shingles, influenza and pneumonia with a vaccination.

“We can't be so focused on COVID-19 that we ignore the yearly flu season and the age factor complicating shingles and pneumonia,” Danalewich commented.

“Any of these can be devastating on your financial life, and that concerns us. Vaccinations are relatively painless, free for some insurance companies, and not that costly when compared to the price tag on a hospital stay.”

Those preventable illnesses can make existing medical conditions worse, or lead to new, permanent disabilities, such as loss of sight and paralysis.

For a third year, the staff at Oak Knoll is encouraging clients — and everyone else in the community — to protect their physical health with a vaccination. If they do that one simple thing, Oak Knoll will make a $5 donation to each of three Wilmington charities—The Caring Closet, Kuzma Cottage and the Christian Help Association.

During 2018 and 2019, Oak Knoll paid $5 for a total of 253 shots.

“We're in a position to be grateful and generous. Why not? So many folks are hurting, quarantined, sad, missing friends and family,” said Danalewich. “We can support these three organizations that do so much good in Wilmington. And we're wondering if we will see fewer folks coming to our office this year with their receipts. We're anticipating making up for that by tripling the $5 to $15 for each shot.”

For every vaccination receipt from a doctor’s office or pharmacy administering the injection brought to the Oak Knoll office at 205 S. Water St. in Wilmington, (mask required) a donation of $15 per vaccination will be made.

Oak Knoll does not keep the receipt, and will only use it to verify a vaccination was given. Receipts have to be dated between Sept. 1 and Dec. 31, 2020.

“Were just trying to let people know it’s flu shot time, shingles shot time, pneumonia ... there’s vaccines for this.”

• Influenza — The CDC recommends an annual influenza vaccination for everyone 6 months and older. Flu vaccines protect against the three or four viruses (depending on the vaccine) that research suggests will be most common in the current season. The flu vaccination is covered by Medicare for those 65 and older.
• Shingles — The blanket recommendation from the CDC is that anyone over the age of 60 could benefit from the shingles vaccine. The virus comes from chicken pox, but even those who don’t think they had chicken pox should get the vaccination, because a case may have been so mild as to not have been recognized or diagnosed. The CDC recommends that patients as young as 50 who are immunocompromised or who have other disease states also get vaccinated. The shingles vaccination is two shots that should be given two to six months apart. Outside that window, the second shot should be given as soon as possible. The new chicken pox vaccination should protect today’s youngsters from shingles later in life.
• Pneumonia — There are two pneumonia vaccinations now, both covered by Medicare at no charge for those 65 and older. The two primary vaccinations are Prevnar and Pneumovax. Prevnar does not have to be repeated after age 65. Pneumovax is recommended for younger adults with underlying diseases such as diabetes and does require re-vaccination later.

Your family physician or local pharmacist can help guide you decision about vaccinations.