Peggy Revell
Riverside Health Care Facilities, Inc. is asking the public to do its part to prevent the spread of H1N1 and the seasonal ’flu in local emergency rooms as the number of people heading there is on the rise.
“We’re definitely seeing an increase [number] in our emergency department,” said Riverside communications officer Teresa Hazel.
“I don’t know if it’s to the extent to what you’re seeing in Eastern Ontario, but we definitely have increased visits to the hospital,” she noted.
“Our numbers have been up over the past few days with our emergency department visits,” echoed Susan Ossachuk, director of emergency services and nursing clinical practices at La Verendrye Hospital here.
“Certainly probably not like what they’re seeing in the south, but our numbers have been up over the past week,” she stressed.
“It’s hard, really, to predict whether or not we’re going to have higher and higher numbers,” Ossachuk added, noting precautionary measures—such as people receiving ’flu shots—may mean the numbers change down the road.
Riverside joins hospitals around the province that have seen a surge in the number of people arriving in ERs with the onset of ’flu season.
The Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario in Ottawa saw its emergency ward visits double at the end of October—with two-thirds of patients having influenza-like symptoms—resulting in increased wait times, seating shortages and the addition of staff to handle the influx.
As the number of people heading to the local ER jumps, Riverside is asking the public to take certain precautions to prevent the ’flu from spreading within its facilities, including La Verendrye Hospital and the health centres in Emo and Rainy River.
“Safety and care of our patients is our priority,” stressed Lori Maki, vice-president of clinical services for Riverside.
“So if you’re healthy and well, stay home—don’t come into the hospital.
“The primary thing is our patients are number-one and we have to look out for the patients in the hospital,” Maki added, referring to the various practices Riverside is asking the public to follow.
“We’re asking people not to escort [those coming] to the emergency department,” Hazel said of one of the measure.
“Just drop off the person if they’re able to come on their own so we’re not having a bunch of well people around unwell people in the waiting room,” she explained.
“In terms of people coming to emergency, we prefer that they come alone,” agreed Ossachuk, though adding this doesn’t apply children or people who require assistance.
“We’re trying to discourage people from bringing numbers of people with them, sitting in the waiting room that could also get sick,” she reasoned.
Riverside also is discouraging visitors to the hospital who are under the age of 18, added Ossachuk, though stressing this doesn’t apply to people who have appointments or those in need of emergency services.
“If you’re healthy, don’t come and visit. Basically [that] is the message,” she said.
And staying at home isn’t just for healthy people.
“Don’t come [to emergency] if you have mild ’flu-like symptoms and no pre-existing illnesses of concern,” Hazel remarked. “The most important thing is to stay home and not to come to the emergency department.”
If people aren’t sure whether or not they should come in to the emergency room, the best thing to do would to be call Telehealth Ontario (1-866-797-0000), said Ossachuk, although she conceded the service—which connects people to a registered nurse who can provide answers to health-related questions—has been experiencing longer-than-normal waiting times recently.
Symptom guidelines, as well as information on both H1N1 and the seasonal ’flu, also can be found at the Ontario Ministry of Health’s website at www.health.gov.on.ca and the Northwestern Health Unit’s website at http://nwhu.on.ca
Meanwhile, for those who are coming into Riverside’s facilities, Ossachuk stressed all the precautionary procedures should be properly followed—such as the self-screening at the door, which includes hand-washing and putting on a mask if a person has symptoms.
“Once they put the mask on, they need to put it on appropriately and leave it on,” she noted.
“Because you know what? We’re going into the [ER] department and looking into the waiting room and they’ve got their mask around their neck, they’ve got their nose out, they don’t have it covering their mouth.
“[The mask] doesn’t protect them or the people around them unless it’s left on the proper way the whole time they’re sitting there waiting,” she said.
Keeping patients separate from each other also is one way Riverside is hoping to stop the spread of any ’flu, Ossachuk added.
“We’re trying to segregate our sort of ’flu-like symptom people who are waiting to see a physician from our non-’flu-like symptom people,” she explained, noting this is something being done in most emergency rooms across the province.
“That’s because if you come here for a sore leg, we don’t want you to be sitting amongst a group of people who are coughing and have a fever and those sort of things,” Ossachuk said.
