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St. Mary's nurse dies after being admitted with flu-like symptoms
By Staff Report
Posted November 1, 2009 at 6:43 p.m. , updated November 1, 2009 at 6:43 p.m
Test results expected back this week will show whether a St. Mary?s Medical Center nurse who died at the hospital had the swine flu, officials said today.
Danna Fortune, 53, died Friday morning, more than a week after being admitted to St. Mary?s with flu-like symptoms.
?The entire hospital is just devastated,? Spokesman Rick Peltier said. ?Everybody feels horrible and our sympathy is with the family.?
Citing privacy laws, Peltier said he could not discuss the specifics of Fortune?s condition. He did say she was tested for H1N1 while alive, but that the results take awhile to return.
There was no indication Fortune was ever around anyone with the Swine Flu while working, Peltier said. She was a nurse in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, where no patients have tested positive for the virus.
St. Mary?s has reported four confirmed cases of swine flu to the health department. Fortune would not have been in contact with any of those patients, Peltier said.
Only one of the four - Jennifer McGarrh - remained in the hospital Sunday. McGarrh was pregnant when she was admitted in September and is still listed in critical condition, though she is no longer being treated in the Intensive Care Unit.
Though Fortune would likely have had contact with McGarrh?s child, the swine flu generally does not infect a newborn even if its mother has the virus, Peltier said. Because of her condition, McGarrh was not allowed to have any contact with the newborn, Peltier said.
Funeral services for Fortune are scheduled 10 a.m. Tuesday at Koehler Funeral Home in Boonville.
By Staff Report
Posted November 1, 2009 at 6:43 p.m. , updated November 1, 2009 at 6:43 p.m
Test results expected back this week will show whether a St. Mary?s Medical Center nurse who died at the hospital had the swine flu, officials said today.
Danna Fortune, 53, died Friday morning, more than a week after being admitted to St. Mary?s with flu-like symptoms.
?The entire hospital is just devastated,? Spokesman Rick Peltier said. ?Everybody feels horrible and our sympathy is with the family.?
Citing privacy laws, Peltier said he could not discuss the specifics of Fortune?s condition. He did say she was tested for H1N1 while alive, but that the results take awhile to return.
There was no indication Fortune was ever around anyone with the Swine Flu while working, Peltier said. She was a nurse in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, where no patients have tested positive for the virus.
St. Mary?s has reported four confirmed cases of swine flu to the health department. Fortune would not have been in contact with any of those patients, Peltier said.
Only one of the four - Jennifer McGarrh - remained in the hospital Sunday. McGarrh was pregnant when she was admitted in September and is still listed in critical condition, though she is no longer being treated in the Intensive Care Unit.
Though Fortune would likely have had contact with McGarrh?s child, the swine flu generally does not infect a newborn even if its mother has the virus, Peltier said. Because of her condition, McGarrh was not allowed to have any contact with the newborn, Peltier said.
Funeral services for Fortune are scheduled 10 a.m. Tuesday at Koehler Funeral Home in Boonville.
