Pathfinder
Editor, Senior Moderator
Local hospitals, officials target youth for H1N1 prevention
SHAWN DOHERTY
Posted: Friday, September 25, 2009 7:20 am
The H1N1 virus has returned to Dane County with a vengeance, thanks to a nasty outbreak on the UW-Madison campus, and local officials are taking unprecedented steps to control it.
Starting Friday, UW Hospital will use its own lab to test employees with flu symptoms for H1N1 to comply with federal regulations requiring infected health care workers to stay away from patients for seven days after the start of their symptoms.
Two of Madison's three hospitals have suspended their use of student volunteers.
Madison's popular fire prevention visits to schools will eliminate hands-on activities. In Monona, schoolchildren can no longer tour firehouses.
Such local measures are examples of efforts to prevent at-risk populations like young people and hospital patients from getting and spreading H1N1, also referred to as swine flu, though this week the state Assembly urged media in a non-binding resolution to eschew the term "swine flu" in favor of the more pork friendly "H1N1 virus."
About 70 percent of confirmed cases in the county so far have occurred in people aged 24 or younger. People in this age group may be especially vulnerable because they have not been exposed to similar viruses before, says Amanda Kita-Yarbro, a communicable disease epidemiologist with the Madison-Dane County Department of Public Health.
Young people are also more apt to be carriers. "Kids and students have more contact with H1N1 because they are packed in closer together and they are able to transmit it a lot easier," says Steve Van Dinter, a spokesman for St. Mary's Hospital, which has ordered 170 student candy stripers to stay away.
St. Mary's also cancelled a popular program called Hands on Health, which allowed schoolchildren to visit the hospital. "The safety of our patients and the public needs to remain our number one concern," Van Dinter says.
At UW Hospital and Clinics, around 350 high school and college students - half of the total volunteer workforce - spent 1,000 hours a week doing everything from delivering flowers to playing with children on the pediatric wards.
Adult volunteers have offered to increase their hours, but hospital spokeswoman Lisa Brunette predicts that the hospital will still feel the pinch. "You can't take away 350 people and thousands of hours of help and not have some gaps," Brunette says.
Officials at both hospitals say they have no idea how long the suspensions will remain in effect.
Meriter decided not to suspend student volunteers. "Frankly the discussion we had was that we also have employees who are campus students, so how do you treat any one group differently than the other?" explains spokeswoman Mae Knowles.
The Madison Fire Department is also taking protective measures. During firefighter visits to schools, children will no longer be allowed to participate in such hands-on activities as making practice 911 phone calls. "It's not just for our health," explains Lori Wirth, a public information officer with the Madison Fire Department. "We didn't want to pick something up in one school and pass it along to the next. We'll be using our hand sanitizer religiously, but for young children hygiene is not exactly at the top of their minds."
In Monona, children will no longer be given tours of firehouses, though fire trucks will visit their schools. "We were told that the kids are more contagious than the older adults this year," explains Fire Marshall Barb Tilley. "So we made a decision to try to protect ourselves."
Officials are taking these steps as Madison becomes the latest hot spot in the state for the virus.
Dane County has around 100 confirmed H1N1 cases so far this month, according to Kita-Yarbro. The virus first showed up in the county last spring, peaking among local children in May and June and then laying low for the rest of the summer until late August.
Between April 25 and August 29, the number of confirmed and probable cases of H1N1 statewide was 6,432. Most of these cases - 4,060 - were in Milwaukee County, though cases there have recently dropped off dramatically. The opposite has happened in Dane County, according to state figures, where there were only 616 cases between April and August. But county officials say numbers this month have spiked dramatically. Dane County now leads the state in the number of confirmed and probable cases of swine flu.
And the numbers of confirmed laboratory cases are just a small fraction of the total flu numbers, since most victims don't get tested, according to county and state officials.
So far this month, for example, more than 711 students with flu symptoms have reported to University Health Services Clinic.
Kita-Yarbro says that so far this fall numbers have remained low at other local schools and campuses. "Maybe the schools are taking good precautions," she says. "That's easier to do in an elementary school than in a huge lecture hall at UW. It's hard to control college kids."
http://host.madison.com/ct/news/loc...cle_d8bd8210-ecd2-59c6-a380-1e923a6b5377.html
SHAWN DOHERTY
Posted: Friday, September 25, 2009 7:20 am
The H1N1 virus has returned to Dane County with a vengeance, thanks to a nasty outbreak on the UW-Madison campus, and local officials are taking unprecedented steps to control it.
Starting Friday, UW Hospital will use its own lab to test employees with flu symptoms for H1N1 to comply with federal regulations requiring infected health care workers to stay away from patients for seven days after the start of their symptoms.
Two of Madison's three hospitals have suspended their use of student volunteers.
Madison's popular fire prevention visits to schools will eliminate hands-on activities. In Monona, schoolchildren can no longer tour firehouses.
Such local measures are examples of efforts to prevent at-risk populations like young people and hospital patients from getting and spreading H1N1, also referred to as swine flu, though this week the state Assembly urged media in a non-binding resolution to eschew the term "swine flu" in favor of the more pork friendly "H1N1 virus."
About 70 percent of confirmed cases in the county so far have occurred in people aged 24 or younger. People in this age group may be especially vulnerable because they have not been exposed to similar viruses before, says Amanda Kita-Yarbro, a communicable disease epidemiologist with the Madison-Dane County Department of Public Health.
Young people are also more apt to be carriers. "Kids and students have more contact with H1N1 because they are packed in closer together and they are able to transmit it a lot easier," says Steve Van Dinter, a spokesman for St. Mary's Hospital, which has ordered 170 student candy stripers to stay away.
St. Mary's also cancelled a popular program called Hands on Health, which allowed schoolchildren to visit the hospital. "The safety of our patients and the public needs to remain our number one concern," Van Dinter says.
At UW Hospital and Clinics, around 350 high school and college students - half of the total volunteer workforce - spent 1,000 hours a week doing everything from delivering flowers to playing with children on the pediatric wards.
Adult volunteers have offered to increase their hours, but hospital spokeswoman Lisa Brunette predicts that the hospital will still feel the pinch. "You can't take away 350 people and thousands of hours of help and not have some gaps," Brunette says.
Officials at both hospitals say they have no idea how long the suspensions will remain in effect.
Meriter decided not to suspend student volunteers. "Frankly the discussion we had was that we also have employees who are campus students, so how do you treat any one group differently than the other?" explains spokeswoman Mae Knowles.
The Madison Fire Department is also taking protective measures. During firefighter visits to schools, children will no longer be allowed to participate in such hands-on activities as making practice 911 phone calls. "It's not just for our health," explains Lori Wirth, a public information officer with the Madison Fire Department. "We didn't want to pick something up in one school and pass it along to the next. We'll be using our hand sanitizer religiously, but for young children hygiene is not exactly at the top of their minds."
In Monona, children will no longer be given tours of firehouses, though fire trucks will visit their schools. "We were told that the kids are more contagious than the older adults this year," explains Fire Marshall Barb Tilley. "So we made a decision to try to protect ourselves."
Officials are taking these steps as Madison becomes the latest hot spot in the state for the virus.
Dane County has around 100 confirmed H1N1 cases so far this month, according to Kita-Yarbro. The virus first showed up in the county last spring, peaking among local children in May and June and then laying low for the rest of the summer until late August.
Between April 25 and August 29, the number of confirmed and probable cases of H1N1 statewide was 6,432. Most of these cases - 4,060 - were in Milwaukee County, though cases there have recently dropped off dramatically. The opposite has happened in Dane County, according to state figures, where there were only 616 cases between April and August. But county officials say numbers this month have spiked dramatically. Dane County now leads the state in the number of confirmed and probable cases of swine flu.
And the numbers of confirmed laboratory cases are just a small fraction of the total flu numbers, since most victims don't get tested, according to county and state officials.
So far this month, for example, more than 711 students with flu symptoms have reported to University Health Services Clinic.
Kita-Yarbro says that so far this fall numbers have remained low at other local schools and campuses. "Maybe the schools are taking good precautions," she says. "That's easier to do in an elementary school than in a huge lecture hall at UW. It's hard to control college kids."
http://host.madison.com/ct/news/loc...cle_d8bd8210-ecd2-59c6-a380-1e923a6b5377.html