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H1N1 Strains Intensive Care Units
Intensive-care units are being strained, hospital officials said Thursday morning, because of the H1N1 flu outbreak.
Doctors at Lovelace Hospital, Presbyterian Hospital and the University of New Mexico Hospital said intensive-care units at their hospitals are strained, with admissions to ICUs 40 percent above what's considered normal for this time of year.
At a news conference Thursday, doctors said most front-line healthcare workers have received the vaccine so they don't get sick or possibly spread the virus to their patients, and some people at high risk, like pregnant women and small children, are starting to receive the vaccine.
The hospitals are receiving small shipments of the vaccine, but officials said it will likely be weeks before there will be enough vaccine for the general public.
"We still think you should get the vaccine, because we expect the attack rate to be somewhere between 10 and 30 percent," said Dr. Michael Richards of UNM Hospital's Department of Emergency Medicine.
Meanwhile, La Plata County, Colo., is offering a free H1N1 vaccine clinic on Thursday afternoon for people who are around children under six months old. The clinic is at the La Plata County Fairgrounds from 4 to 7 p.m. (La Plata County is one of several southwestern Colorado counties within KRQE's viewing area.)
H1N1 Strains Intensive Care Units
Intensive-care units are being strained, hospital officials said Thursday morning, because of the H1N1 flu outbreak.
Doctors at Lovelace Hospital, Presbyterian Hospital and the University of New Mexico Hospital said intensive-care units at their hospitals are strained, with admissions to ICUs 40 percent above what's considered normal for this time of year.
At a news conference Thursday, doctors said most front-line healthcare workers have received the vaccine so they don't get sick or possibly spread the virus to their patients, and some people at high risk, like pregnant women and small children, are starting to receive the vaccine.
The hospitals are receiving small shipments of the vaccine, but officials said it will likely be weeks before there will be enough vaccine for the general public.
"We still think you should get the vaccine, because we expect the attack rate to be somewhere between 10 and 30 percent," said Dr. Michael Richards of UNM Hospital's Department of Emergency Medicine.
Meanwhile, La Plata County, Colo., is offering a free H1N1 vaccine clinic on Thursday afternoon for people who are around children under six months old. The clinic is at the La Plata County Fairgrounds from 4 to 7 p.m. (La Plata County is one of several southwestern Colorado counties within KRQE's viewing area.)