Our Mission Statement
At The Love for Lochlin Foundation Inc our Mission is to prevent, educate, and drive awareness to the deadly impacts of the Flu and Sepsis in Frederick County Maryland.
It is our promise that we will work tirelessly so that no more lives are lost to Flu or SEPSIS due to the lack of access to resources needed in our community.
Our Story
Never in a million years would we have thought that we’d be dealing with the tragic death of one of our children to complications from the Flu. His name was Lochlin, he was 5 years old and the most beautiful, loving young boy anyone could ask for. This was also the first time that we had ever heard of Sepsis being linked to the Flu. On Friday January 17th 2020 Lochlin came home from school complaining of leg cramps and a headache. Saturday he was tired with a low grade fever and some minor body aches. By Sunday he was feeling much better and was up playing with his brothers, until Sunday night he took a turn for the worst. We took him to an urgent care where he was diagnosed with Influenza Type A and mild dehydration. Monday morning Lochlin was not any better and would not walk on his own due to the pain in his legs. This time we took him to the hospital; however, it was too late, that afternoon on January 20th, 2020 he passed away from Flu - Sepsis.
Since Lochlin's passing we have had one mission, and that is to educate and protect as many people as possible from the deadly impacts of the Influenza virus. No one should have to go through the pain and suffering of losing a loved one (a child at that) from a vaccinable disease. That is why we started this Nonprofit in his name. We are going to do everything we can to help prevent this tragedy from ever happening again!
Our Vision
Reduce the Impact of Vaccinable Infectious Diseases
Mission Success
Our Mission will not be complete until we assure that our community is free from severe impacts of Influenza and other vaccinable infectious disease like it. Families should not have to experience the pain and suffering from tragedies related to a vaccine preventable disease such as the FLU or Coronavirus. Each year the flu virus kills ~60,000 people and hospitalizes upwards 800,000 in the United States alone. ~20,000 of those hospitalized each year are children under the age of 5 (per the CDC). We will not consider our mission successful until we have significantly reduced these numbers and the people in our communities can be worry free about potential Flu outbreaks.
Please see below some of the ways we are attacking the Flu and COVID.
Community Vaccination Clinics
Protecting Everyone
One of our core missions at Love For Lochlin Inc is to protect as many people as possible from the flu and other infectious diseases like it. The best way for us to do that is to go into the community and provide free vaccines to people that do not have the means to get them. Through this initiative we can fight infectious diseases at the ground level and really work to reduce their ability to spread in our communities. However, this is no easy feat, but with cooperation and community support we have been able to conduct these clinics in neighborhoods, schools, community centers, ect and really make an impact in our community! Our Goal is to scale this initiative one day to the state and national level helping protect as many people as possible!
Getting Vaccines into Schools Nationwide
Reinforcing our Commitment
With our organization’s mission always in mind, we strive to find new strategies for dealing with this challenge. One of the easiest ways for infectious diseases, like the flu or Coronavirus, to spread is through our schools. So our team is working very hard to find different ways to protect our school systems and our children from becoming a super highway for these diseases. One way to help protect our children and reduce the spread is through offering vaccines in schools to those who want them. This makes availability and access to the vaccine much more obtainable for all of our children, further reinforcing our commitment to protecting everyone from the deadly impacts of these infectious diseases!
Educating the Public
Its not "Just the Flu"
Being educated on the impacts of infectious diseases and knowing the signs and symptoms is one of the most powerful ways to preventing them. At Love for Lochlin we want everyone to know and understand the true impact the influenza virus and others like it can have. We also want everyone to know how to prevent the spread of it and how to effectively provide care for people that have it. With this initiative we aim to leverage social media platforms and the school systems to teach people how to protect themselves, prevent the spread, and how to care for people with these infectious diseases.
