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Source: http://www.indystar.com/article/2009...+flu+victim++6
Funeral today for flu victim, 6
By Bruce C. Smith
Posted: September 24, 2009
CLAYTON ? Funeral services are today for a 6-year-old Hendricks County boy who died from apparent complications from a flu virus.
Wyatt Joseph Stevens, a son of Brad and Cindy Stevens of Clayton, died Sunday.
Services are at the Jones Family Mortuary in Mooresville.
Memorial contributions may be made to Riley Hospital for Children or the Ronald McDonald House, or to a memorial fund established for Wyatt Stevens at National City Bank.
He was a first grader at Mill Creek East Elementary School, where School Superintendent Patrick Spray is reassuring other parents that precautions are being taken to disinfect the building.
Doctors told the Stevens family that Wyatt contracted parainfluenza, which is not the much-publicized H1N1 or the typical form of seasonal flu.
The boy became ill on Labor Day and was admitted the next day to Riley Hospital in Indianapolis.
Spray said he visited the family at the hospital several times and the doctors told the family that the virus apparently attacked the boy?s heart, leading to life-threatening complications.
?They said it was a very unusual circumstances, maybe one in 100,000 that this could happen,? he said.
?The concerns we hear are for the family because this is a close community. Everyone feels the pain,? he said. ?It was tough and I have children about the same age, so this really hits home,? Spray said.
The school administration has been communicating to other parents in the western Hendricks County school system, reassuring them that the virus was not H1N1.
?We have a protocol for disinfecting the buildings for flu that includes wipe downs and having the students continuously sanitizing their hands. We follow the same precautions in all our buildings,? he said.
Hendricks County health officials held a meeting last week to talk about flu precautions in schools and other buildings.
?They said the flu virus only lives (in the environment) about five to eight hours outside of a host, so the virus dies overnight in the school buildings. So we put the emphasis on wiping the doors and other surfaces in the buildings during the school day and washing hands and using hand sanitizer in every room,? he said.
Call Star reporter Bruce C. Smith at (317) 444-2803.
Funeral today for flu victim, 6
By Bruce C. Smith
Posted: September 24, 2009
CLAYTON ? Funeral services are today for a 6-year-old Hendricks County boy who died from apparent complications from a flu virus.
Wyatt Joseph Stevens, a son of Brad and Cindy Stevens of Clayton, died Sunday.
Services are at the Jones Family Mortuary in Mooresville.
Memorial contributions may be made to Riley Hospital for Children or the Ronald McDonald House, or to a memorial fund established for Wyatt Stevens at National City Bank.
He was a first grader at Mill Creek East Elementary School, where School Superintendent Patrick Spray is reassuring other parents that precautions are being taken to disinfect the building.
Doctors told the Stevens family that Wyatt contracted parainfluenza, which is not the much-publicized H1N1 or the typical form of seasonal flu.
The boy became ill on Labor Day and was admitted the next day to Riley Hospital in Indianapolis.
Spray said he visited the family at the hospital several times and the doctors told the family that the virus apparently attacked the boy?s heart, leading to life-threatening complications.
?They said it was a very unusual circumstances, maybe one in 100,000 that this could happen,? he said.
?The concerns we hear are for the family because this is a close community. Everyone feels the pain,? he said. ?It was tough and I have children about the same age, so this really hits home,? Spray said.
The school administration has been communicating to other parents in the western Hendricks County school system, reassuring them that the virus was not H1N1.
?We have a protocol for disinfecting the buildings for flu that includes wipe downs and having the students continuously sanitizing their hands. We follow the same precautions in all our buildings,? he said.
Hendricks County health officials held a meeting last week to talk about flu precautions in schools and other buildings.
?They said the flu virus only lives (in the environment) about five to eight hours outside of a host, so the virus dies overnight in the school buildings. So we put the emphasis on wiping the doors and other surfaces in the buildings during the school day and washing hands and using hand sanitizer in every room,? he said.
Call Star reporter Bruce C. Smith at (317) 444-2803.
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