NC CMC?Lincoln Restricts Minor Visitors to Protect from Flu

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LINCOLNTON - For the protection of patients and visiting children, effective Thursday, October 1, Carolinas Medical Center-Lincoln is temporarily restricting all visitors under the age of 18 from visiting patients.

This step is being taken as a proactive response to the swine flu, or H1N1 virus spread.

?We are seeing flu in the hospital, but nothing overwhelming at this time. We believe that this visitor restriction, while difficult, will help slow the spread of the illness and protect vulnerable individuals,? states Pete Acker, hospital CEO.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, doctor?s office visits related to the flu and hospitalizations related to flu are increasing nationally. Statewide, North Carolina is one of twenty-six states that the CDC cites as reporting wide-spread flu activity.

Because the CDC recommends that physician offices and hospitals not test specifically for swine flu in most cases, specific statistics on the number of swine flu cases at CMC-Lincoln are not available.

However, CMC-Lincoln has seen an increasing number of patients with flu-like symptoms.

http://www.lincolntribune.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=14009

 

[yielddude]

Re: NC CMC?Lincoln Restricts Minor Visitors to Protect from Flu

Flu prompts hospital restrictions
Emily Killian
2009-09-25 18:28:46
SHELBY ? If you?re planning on letting your children visit sick relatives or friends at Cleveland Regional Medical Center or Kings Mountain Hospital, you might want to make other plans.

Beginning Thursday, Oct. 1, both facilities will temporarily restrict visitors under the age of 18 from visiting patients at those facilities, including the outpatient surgery pavilion.

Dotty Leatherwood, vice president of community relations for Cleveland Regional Medical Center, said the measures are voluntary and that they were put in place to mitigate the spread of H1N1.

?We will not be checking IDs,? said Leatherwood. ?We just have to use some good common sense in the whole process. We are asking that people self-restrict their family members and themselves.

?Floor nurses will be attuned to how important it is to keep our patients safe.?

They can ask people with minors to leave, officials said.

The number of cases of H1N1 influenza in the nation and worldwide is still on the rise and experts anticipate an additional upswing this fall.

Leatherwood said the Centers for Disease Control shows there are widespread outbreaks of the flu in North Carolina.

?We?re asking for the public?s support, not only for the health of our patients, but for the health of their children,? said Leatherwood. ?Please do not allow children to visit hospital patients. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.?

As for families who wish to have children visit sick grandparents, Leatherwood said the policy will help keep both patients and children from getting the flu.

?I don?t know of a grandparent who wouldn?t want to know their grandchildren are safe,? she said. ?It?s about keeping those grandchildren safe, too.

?This one works both ways. It keeps the children safe and it keeps the grandparents safe.?

The new policy will remain in place until the incidence rate of H1N1 has significantly decreased, according to information from the hospital.

http://www.shelbystar.com/news/flu-41971-hospital-prompts.html

 

[yielddude]

Re: NC CMC?Lincoln Restricts Minor Visitors to Protect from Flu

(last one - just getting across the theme for nc hospitals, possibly in reaction to first child death recently this fall due to h1n1)

Duke Hospitals: No children visitors

Posted: Sep. 25, 2009

Chapel Hill, N.C. ? The Duke University Health System asked Friday that only adults visit its hospitals, clinics and outpatient treatment clinics. Duke is the latest to limit visits by children as a precaution to limit the spread of the H1N1 and seasonal flu viruses.

Young people are at greater risk for the H1N1 strain of the flu, according to Raleigh physician Dr. Allen Mask, because those over the age of 60 may have some resistance built up from earlier exposure in a vaccination or virus.

UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill has banned visitors younger than 13 in the Newborn Critical Care Center, the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit and the Labor and Delivery Unit, a spokesman said earlier this week.

The Moses Cone Health System in Greensboro has banned visitors younger than 18 from all facilities.

The H1N1 flu strain first identified in April is now responsible for almost all flu cases in the United States, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It has caused more than 1 million illnesses so far, though most were mild and not reported.

A vaccine is expected to be available beginning in October, the CDC has said. That vaccine is designated for pregnant women, those who live with or care for children 6 months or younger, health care workers, people aged 6 months through 24 years, and people with chronic health problems or compromised immune systems.

http://www.wral.com/news/news_briefs/story/6079183/