“… healthcare professionals with The Shot Nurse have been visiting hundreds of Memphis area restaurants offering free vaccines for employees made possible with funding from Serving Memphis. Restaurant workers 
were chosen for the campaign for a number of reasons. They frequently lack health insurance, or work multiple jobs making it difficult to find time to get vaccinated. Also, their work with the general public puts restaurant employees at greater risk to contract the flu…”
Getting sick hurts restaurant workers in another place: Their pocketbook. “In this industry, you live off each day of work,” Hafford said.
So far this year, Pietri estimates she’s surprised more than 200 restaurants and injected 430 workers with the flu vaccine. The registered nurse works for The Shot Nurse, which would charge $25 per injection. But that expense is being born by three people who either own restaurants or have had family in the business: Michael Uiberall, Wight Boggs and Sandy Robertson.
They are paying for the shots through their new nonprofit, Serving Memphis.
“We’re trying to target people who are in minimum-wage positions,” said Boggs, an owner of Huey’s restaurants. They’re often young adults, she said, adding, “We’re trying to get them to start thinking about a healthy lifestyle early on.”
The goal is to provide 500 flu shots this year. “Next year, we hope to do 800 shots,” said Uiberall, a partner in the CPA firm Watkins Uiberall.
For more:Â http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2012/nov/21/new-group-aims-to-keep-memphis-restaurant/?CID=happeningnow
