N.B. inn’s getaway a real shot in the arm

Picture a romantic overnight getaway across the border in Canada. A leisurely drive, a charming and historic seaside inn. Spa treatments, local sightseeing, fine dining and a flu shot.

A flu shot?

Since when is that part of a tourism package?

Well, since Friday. That’s when Ross and Willa Mavis, proprietors of the elegant Inn on the Cove in Saint John, New Brunswick, started running a small classified ad in the Bangor Daily News. Packages from $175 (U.S.) based on single occupancy.

Ross Mavis explained in a phone conversation Saturday that he got the idea a few weeks ago, when some overnight guests from New Jersey inquired about getting a flu shot.

“They said they just couldn’t get it anywhere in the U.S.,” Mavis recalled, so he referred them to a local clinic run by the nonprofit Victorian Order of Nurses. The Americans got their vaccines without difficulty and headed back to the Garden State.

But they left behind the seed of an idea. As part of its “health and wellness mandate,” Mavis said, the Inn on the Cove promotes all aspects of a healthful lifestyle. The Mavises don’t allow smoking, the food is fresh and simple, and the spa offers stress-reduction massage, detoxifying baths and sunless tanning. It was only logical to add flu vaccines to the amenities already available.

“If we have some extra here [in Canada] and you people [in the United States] are short – well, it’s what anyone would do,” Mavis said.

Canada’s flu vaccine is reportedly in good supply. There’s no hint of the near panic that emerged here in the States last month when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced out of the blue that our supply this year is about half of what’s needed, because of contamination at a manufacturing plant in Great Britain.

While U.S. health officials mete out the meager supply to some of our most vulnerable residents, many determined Americans have headed north, crossing into Canada to get their shots. In addition to individual expeditions, cruise ships on the West Coast and bus tours in the Midwest have included vaccine stops in their cross-border itineraries.

Are Canadians making hay with the American vaccine debacle?

“Absolutely not,” said Mavis, who hails from British Columbia. It would be different if he were charging exorbitantly for the vaccine or raising room rates to take advantage of desperate vaccine-seekers. “But there’s nothing Machiavellian going on here,” he said. Naturally, he hopes it will be good for the inn’s waning, late-autumn business, but he also considers the flu shot package a gesture of goodwill to his neighbors – and potential customers – in Maine.

Mavis was open with his pricing information. It usually costs about $150 in U.S. dollars for a nonpackage room at the inn, with a nice breakfast included. Dinner, a four-course affair that reflects the owners’ commitment to fine dining, averages another $40 or $50 per person. For his vaccine special, Mavis discounted the room and meal combination, added the $25 he pays per flu shot and tied it up for $175. For a couple, the package costs $250.

If guests are ready for their vaccine during business hours, Mavis will send them over to the nursing agency and have the cost of the shot billed to the Inn on the Cove. But if they request a nighttime or early-morning inoculation, or on a weekend, the Mavis’ daughter-in-law, a registered nurse, will administer the vaccine right on the premises. Mavis will order his own supply from the agency.

Mavis said Saturday his phone has not exactly been ringing off the hook, but he hopes he’ll get enough response from the ad to keep his six guest rooms full for a couple of weeks. He plans to run his special package through November, as long as there’s vaccine available. Health officials say the flu vaccine is most effective if received in October or November.

Saint John is about one hour by car from the border crossing at Calais, handy enough for Washington County folks but kind of a long haul for the rest of us. “If you’re going to make the drive here, you’re probably going to need to sleep somewhere,” Mavis pointed out. “But I suppose people can just come across the border and get a shot, if that’s what they want.”

More information about the Inn on the Cove is available online at www.innonthecove.com, or by calling (877) 257-8080.