KALAMAZOO, Mich. — Bronson Healthcare Systems keeps a close eye on influenza activity every year. They graph it’s movement, measured by the number of cases a hospital sees, and in January it was pretty low said Dr. Richard Van Enk.
“Then two weeks ago it tripled,” said Dr. Van Eck, Director of Infection Prevention and Epidemiology at Bronson. “Influenza is a very interesting disease in that it sometimes has a very sharp increase and that's what we saw two weeks ago. And last week it double again.”
Now, Bronson hospitals are taking precautionary steps to keep the disease out of it's hospitals and far from their patients. They’re implementing a set a of guidelines for visitors when they come to any of their hospitals, from Battle Creek to South Haven.
“Most of the time influenza in the hospital comes in with visitors and so we like to control that risk,” said Dr. Van Enk during an interview at the hospital. “The two things that we like to do are reduce the number of visitors in the patients room and reduce the numbers of children in the patients room.”
He said children catch and carry the disease much easier than adults. That's why the temporary guidelines state that all visitors must be over the age of 15, especially in emergency departments. And at Bronson BirthPlace, only a patient’s immediate relatives are allowed to visit them and are encouraged to wear a mask.
“The patients in a hospital are vulnerable,” said Dr. Van Enk. “They have underlying diseases and they’re being treated for different things. And so if they get influenza while they’re in the hospital that could be devastating for them.”
If a visitor is sick and wants to visit a loved one at the hospital, Dr. Van Enk recommends calling the doctor beforehand to get his or her diagnosis. But the best form of protection for yourself and the patient, he said, is to get the flu shot.
“There still plenty of influenza vaccine in the community,” said Dr. Van Enk. “All the providers have it. All the drugs stores have it. So if you haven’t had your influenza immunization this year by all means get it now.”
