Hospitals masking visitors as safety measure
URBANA – Walk into a hospital emergency room or convenient care center with flu symptoms, and you're going to be wearing a mask over your nose and mouth fast.
Not your style?
Don't worry, you probably won't be the only one wearing one.
People with flu symptoms are boosting traffic at hospital emergency rooms and convenient care centers as the H1N1 virus sweeps through the area, and the handing of masks to sneezing, coughing patients as they head into the waiting room has become a standard procedure to keep the germs from further spreading.
And mask-wearers will have plenty of company. About half the patients at Carle Clinic's convenient care centers in Champaign and Urbana have been coming in with flu symptoms, clinic spokeswoman Jennifer Hendricks said.
So far, the symptoms of the novel H1N1/swine flu virus – fever, cough, sore throat, body ache, fatigue, congestion and, in some cases, nausea – haven't been any worse than what doctors have seen in previous flu seasons, said Allen Rinehart, director of Carle Foundation Hospital's emergency department.
Very few people coming to the hospital with flu symptoms are being admitted, he and other area hospital officials said.
The difference in this flu season may be that there's more awareness and fear of this particular virus, he and other hospital officials said.
"I think that there are many people who are scared, and some of those are people bringing their children in," Rinehart added. "They want to make sure their children are OK."
Heightened awareness of flu is good, Rinehart said, because it's making people more careful about washing their hands and covering their coughs appropriately.
Public health experts say most people with H1N1 don't need medical treatment or antiviral drugs. They need rest, fluids and fever-reducing medication. And unless they get worse and need medical attention, they need to stay home.
Denise Sexton, patient care manager at Provena Covenant Medical Center, said people have called the hospital about flu symptoms and said they're out at the mall.
When should you seek medical attention for flu?
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises getting children to a doctor if they're having trouble breathing or breathing fast, if their skin turns a bluish color, they're not drinking enough fluids, not waking up or interacting, are irritable or have flu-like symptoms that improve then return with fever, a worse cough or fever with a rash.
Adults need medical attention when they're having difficulty breathing, are short of breath, have pain or pressure in the chest or abdomen, dizziness, confusion or suffering severe vomiting.
Mary O'Brien, nurse manager for the emergency department at Provena United Samaritans Medical Center, said there's been so much attention focused on the H1N1 flu virus that people forget normal influenza kills thousands of people in the U.S. every year.
United Samaritans – along with many other hospitals – doesn't have the space to segregate flu patients in separate waiting areas, so masking them and getting them in for treatment as quickly as possible is the best option, O'Brien said.
Sexton said Covenant is definitely seeing an earlier flu season this year due to H1N1, and flu tests being given to patients are turning up positives every day.
"Most of the positives we've seen have been people 20 and under," she added.
All three hospitals in Urbana and Danville have seen an increase in the use of their emergency rooms lately, but think flu is only part of what's making them busier.
Another factor may be the economy and job losses leaving the emergency room the only place to turn for sick people without health insurance, Sexton said.
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