Pathfinder
Editor, Senior Moderator
Hospital keeping visitor restrictions
By JACKIE MAJERUS
STAFF WRITER
BRISTOL ? For the time being, Bristol Hospital will keep the restrictions on its visiting policy.
Facing an uptick in the number of flu cases, hospital officials decided at the end of October to ban visitors under age 18.
Dr. Leonard Banco, the hospital?s chief medical officer, said at the time that the hospital hoped the temporary policy would protect patients who were already debilitated by illness from contracting the flu to would help keep the flu from spreading.
Playing into the decision was the fact that children were especially vulnerable to the swine flu, or H1N1 virus.
Banco said there?s no way to say for certain, but the restrictions probably helped.
?It has certainly reduced the number of people in the building at any time who are carrying the virus,? he said.
Laura Nagle, emergency management coordinator at the hospital, agreed, saying that it was the responsible thing for the hospital to do in order to protect patients and staff.
?We had very few staff sick calls related to the flu and I know this restriction helped to prevent our current patients from being exposed,? Nagle said.
Flu-related hospitalizations are down.
Banco said in October that he hoped the hospital, which generally welcomes children as visitors, wouldn?t have to keep them out for more than five or six weeks.
The hospital will re-evaluate the policy after next week, Banco said, when the state Department of Public Health will give a statewide update on the status of the swine flu in Connecticut.
Banco also said it appears that the H1N1 virus activity is decreasing in the area as it is around the nation.
But many hospitals are keeping age restrictions in place through the winter, Banco said, because of the expectation that the seasonal flu is on the way.
http://www.bristolpress.com/articles/2009/12/11/news/doc4b2304d75d832192611389.txt
By JACKIE MAJERUS
STAFF WRITER
BRISTOL ? For the time being, Bristol Hospital will keep the restrictions on its visiting policy.
Facing an uptick in the number of flu cases, hospital officials decided at the end of October to ban visitors under age 18.
Dr. Leonard Banco, the hospital?s chief medical officer, said at the time that the hospital hoped the temporary policy would protect patients who were already debilitated by illness from contracting the flu to would help keep the flu from spreading.
Playing into the decision was the fact that children were especially vulnerable to the swine flu, or H1N1 virus.
Banco said there?s no way to say for certain, but the restrictions probably helped.
?It has certainly reduced the number of people in the building at any time who are carrying the virus,? he said.
Laura Nagle, emergency management coordinator at the hospital, agreed, saying that it was the responsible thing for the hospital to do in order to protect patients and staff.
?We had very few staff sick calls related to the flu and I know this restriction helped to prevent our current patients from being exposed,? Nagle said.
Flu-related hospitalizations are down.
Banco said in October that he hoped the hospital, which generally welcomes children as visitors, wouldn?t have to keep them out for more than five or six weeks.
The hospital will re-evaluate the policy after next week, Banco said, when the state Department of Public Health will give a statewide update on the status of the swine flu in Connecticut.
Banco also said it appears that the H1N1 virus activity is decreasing in the area as it is around the nation.
But many hospitals are keeping age restrictions in place through the winter, Banco said, because of the expectation that the seasonal flu is on the way.
http://www.bristolpress.com/articles/2009/12/11/news/doc4b2304d75d832192611389.txt