LATE FLU BUG HITS HARD VALLEY EMERGENCY ROOMS OVERFLOWING WITH SUFFERERS.Byline: Dana Bartholomew Staff Writer Flu patients jammed emergency rooms around Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. County on Wednesday, including those in the San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. , where some hospitals are being forced to turn away ambulances because of overcrowding overcrowding overcrowding of animal accommodation. Many countries now publish codes of practice which define what the appropriate volumetric allowances should be for each species of animal when they are housed indoors. Breaches of these codes is overcrowding. . With twice as many patients at some emergency rooms as usual, the Los Angeles County Department of Health urged flu patients to seek help from their doctors or at low-cost medical clinics instead. ``Our emergency systems will be paralyzed par·a·lyze tr.v. par·a·lyzed, par·a·lyz·ing, par·a·lyz·es 1. To affect with paralysis; cause to be paralytic. 2. To make unable to move or act: paralyzed by fear. if patients seek treatment in emergency rooms,'' Dr. Laurene Mascola, chief of the Acute Communicable Disease communicable disease n. A disease that is transmitted through direct contact with an infected individual or indirectly through a vector. Also called contagious disease. Control Unit, said in a statement. ``Despite the discomfort a patient may have with the flu, it is not a reason to go to the emergency room unless your doctor has instructed you to do so.'' Hospital officials said the rush for care is typical for the start of the flu season when many sick people without doctors seek initial treatment in emergency rooms. The two-month delay in delivering flu vaccine has no correlation to the flu outbreak, said Dr. David Dassey, an epidemiologist with the county Health Department. He also said the flu season is behind schedule. ``This is about two or three weeks later than we normally experience the start of the influenza season,'' Dassey said. ``We have evidence of equal amounts of both Type A and Type B influenza this season.'' Across the Valley, physicians have been busy for a week tending an influx of flu patients. At Valley Presbyterian Hospital in Van Nuys, emergency room officials reported 30 patients squeezed into a waiting room designed for 15. That didn't include six other patients on gurneys waiting for treatment. ``We're hammered out here,'' said Kimberly Nida, emergency room manager for Valley Presbyterian, which treated 130 patients Tuesday compared with a typical load of 70 patients. ``They've got the flu; they're sick.'' Because of the number of influenza patients, hospitals in Glendale, Granada Hills, Encino and Northridge were forced to call ``time-outs'' from ambulance visits Tuesday, health officials said. Similar cuts in service were reported at hospitals across the San Gabriel Valley The San Gabriel Valley is one of the principal valleys of southern California. It lies to the east of the city of Los Angeles, to the north of the Puente Hills, to the south of the San Gabriel Mountains, and to the west of the Inland Empire. and hospitals downtown. ``We're just swamped,'' said an emergency room nurse at Granada Hills Community Hospital who declined to give her name. ``We have a lot of flu patients.'' But not all hospitals were inundated in·un·date tr.v. in·un·dat·ed, in·un·dat·ing, in·un·dates 1. To cover with water, especially floodwaters. 2. by flu patients. Providence Holy Cross Medical Center Providence Holy Cross Medical Center is a hospital in Mission Hills, California, USA. The hospital has 254 beds, and is part of Providence Health & Services. History in Mission Hills reported a dearth of flu sufferers. Nonetheless, Dassey warned residents to take precautions to avoid transmitting the highly contagious virus. People with symptoms such as fever, cough, headache, muscle aches and fatigue should stay home during the first three to five days of their illness to avoid exposing others to the disease, he said. Cover your mouth when you sneeze sneeze, involuntary violent expiration of air through the nose and mouth. It results from stimulation of the nervous system in the nose, causing sudden contraction of the muscles of expiration. and wash your hands frequently, he advised. The illness is treatable with antiviral agents available by prescription. Parents are advised to administer acetaminophen acetaminophen (əsēt'əmĭn`əfĭn), an analgesic and fever-reducing medicine similar in effect to aspirin. It is an active ingredient in many over-the-counter medicines, including Tylenol and Midol. , not aspirin, to children to control fever. Children, the chronically ill, pregnant women and the elderly are particularly prone to complications from influenza. For information on flu shot clinics, call (800) 427-8700. Despite the health advisory to stay away from emergency rooms, many emergency room nurses welcomed sick influenza patients. ``I wouldn't discourage anyone not to come in if they had the flu,'' Nida said. ``If they feel they need to be seen, then they should be seen.'' CAPTION(S): photo Photo: An overflow of flu sufferers waits to see a doctor in the emergency room at Van Nuys' Valley Presbyterian Hospital. Hospitals are jammed with flu cases. Gene Blevins/Special to the Daily News |
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