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Is it H1N1? Parents packing clinics with kids
By JOY LEIKER October 20, 2009
MUNCIE -- Need proof that people are concerned about the <NOBR id=itxt_nobr_0_0 style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-SIZE: 100%; COLOR: #2b65b0">H1N1
</NOBR> flu virus?
Visit a pediatrician's office.
Better yet.
Try to call one.
Inside the Cardinal <NOBR id=itxt_nobr_4_0 style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-SIZE: 100%; COLOR: #2b65b0">Health</NOBR> System Pediatrics Center, two full-time nurses are answering the calls of nervous parents wondering whether their child's fever, sore throat, snotty nose and upset stomach mean their child has H1N1.
"One of the days last week, 264 phone calls came in, and it's probably worse today," said physician Craig Hughes. "We have two dedicated phone nurses, and they cannot keep up."
On top of the phone calls, the team of six doctors and two nurse practitioners are seeing a minimum of 200 patients a day. Visits to the night-time clinic have nearly doubled.
And while the doctor acknowledges some people are battling the flu, most aren't.
"The hard part of this is we're seeing an early flu season with the H1N1.
From my perspective, that is not maybe the major illness out there, but it's the major concern," Hughes said.
More patients are suffering from colds and the basic stomach flu, Hughes said.
His advice to parents is that if your child's symptoms wouldn't normally lead you to bring them to the doctor, then don't do it now. But if your child has a prolonged fever for more than three to five days, won't or can't stay hydrated, has difficulty breathing, is blue or just isn't acting right, then it's time to go to the doctor. Also, if a fever goes away and then comes back worse, it's time to call the doctor.
But all of that advice -- which doctors and the Centers for Disease Control have been repeating for months -- hasn't been enough to sway fears, and questions.
The worries rage on at the Delaware County Health Department.
"We are bombarded with phone calls," said nurse Susan Morris. "We are taking hundreds of calls daily on H1N1."
Many of those calls are from residents wanting to know when the H1N1 vaccination will be available, Morris said. The first doses were given to health care workers and emergency responders, and then a small number of vaccinations was split among the pediatricians' offices in the county.
Because it's unknown when more doses will arrive, and how many will arrive, Morris said it's impossible to schedule a large-scale vaccination clinic.
In the meantime, the health department is working to establish an improved network with schools. Morris said health officials want to collect information about students who are absent because of illness -- including why they're absent.
"We are in the process of trying to get something out to the schools. A format that they can get into us hopefully weekly," Morris said of the form that the department hopes schools will use by the beginning of November.
"It asks how many are absent? What they're absent with. Is it flu? Strep throat? Is it something else?"
Yorktown Community Schools already is trying to track those details on its own, though Supt. Zach Rozelle said the school so far hasn't had a big outbreak of any one particular illness.
And other schools are reporting the same -- a few sick students every day.
Even when there is a spike in absenteeism -- 13 percent of Delta High School students last week -- administrators don't always know exactly why those students are sick. Due to privacy laws, parents aren't required to report such specifics to schools. Those same laws could hamper the health department's new school efforts as well.
Still, schools and health departments are trying to work together. In Randolph County the health department will offer its first free H1N1 vaccine clinic from 4-8 p.m. Wednesday -- specifically for students of Union Schools.
By JOY LEIKER October 20, 2009
MUNCIE -- Need proof that people are concerned about the <NOBR id=itxt_nobr_0_0 style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-SIZE: 100%; COLOR: #2b65b0">H1N1
</NOBR> flu virus?Visit a pediatrician's office.
Better yet.
Try to call one.
Inside the Cardinal <NOBR id=itxt_nobr_4_0 style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-SIZE: 100%; COLOR: #2b65b0">Health
</NOBR> System Pediatrics Center, two full-time nurses are answering the calls of nervous parents wondering whether their child's fever, sore throat, snotty nose and upset stomach mean their child has H1N1."One of the days last week, 264 phone calls came in, and it's probably worse today," said physician Craig Hughes. "We have two dedicated phone nurses, and they cannot keep up."
On top of the phone calls, the team of six doctors and two nurse practitioners are seeing a minimum of 200 patients a day. Visits to the night-time clinic have nearly doubled.
And while the doctor acknowledges some people are battling the flu, most aren't.
"The hard part of this is we're seeing an early flu season with the H1N1.
From my perspective, that is not maybe the major illness out there, but it's the major concern," Hughes said.
More patients are suffering from colds and the basic stomach flu, Hughes said.
His advice to parents is that if your child's symptoms wouldn't normally lead you to bring them to the doctor, then don't do it now. But if your child has a prolonged fever for more than three to five days, won't or can't stay hydrated, has difficulty breathing, is blue or just isn't acting right, then it's time to go to the doctor. Also, if a fever goes away and then comes back worse, it's time to call the doctor.
But all of that advice -- which doctors and the Centers for Disease Control have been repeating for months -- hasn't been enough to sway fears, and questions.
The worries rage on at the Delaware County Health Department.
"We are bombarded with phone calls," said nurse Susan Morris. "We are taking hundreds of calls daily on H1N1."
Many of those calls are from residents wanting to know when the H1N1 vaccination will be available, Morris said. The first doses were given to health care workers and emergency responders, and then a small number of vaccinations was split among the pediatricians' offices in the county.
Because it's unknown when more doses will arrive, and how many will arrive, Morris said it's impossible to schedule a large-scale vaccination clinic.
In the meantime, the health department is working to establish an improved network with schools. Morris said health officials want to collect information about students who are absent because of illness -- including why they're absent.
"We are in the process of trying to get something out to the schools. A format that they can get into us hopefully weekly," Morris said of the form that the department hopes schools will use by the beginning of November.
"It asks how many are absent? What they're absent with. Is it flu? Strep throat? Is it something else?"
Yorktown Community Schools already is trying to track those details on its own, though Supt. Zach Rozelle said the school so far hasn't had a big outbreak of any one particular illness.
And other schools are reporting the same -- a few sick students every day.
Even when there is a spike in absenteeism -- 13 percent of Delta High School students last week -- administrators don't always know exactly why those students are sick. Due to privacy laws, parents aren't required to report such specifics to schools. Those same laws could hamper the health department's new school efforts as well.
Still, schools and health departments are trying to work together. In Randolph County the health department will offer its first free H1N1 vaccine clinic from 4-8 p.m. Wednesday -- specifically for students of Union Schools.
