Flu cases up in area

It’s that time of the year again. Cover your cough, wash you hands and schedule a flu shot because area hospitals have seen a considerable rise in patients with the flu over the past two weeks.

Haylee Spence, director of planning, marketing and public relations for Roosevelt General Hospital, said the number of patients coming in with the flu is up from past years at this time.

“We have seen a high number for this time of the year,” Spence said. “When they compared our numbers from last January to this year, we are seeing much more patients with flu-like symptoms.”

Plains Regional Medical Center Interim Administrator Troy Clark has also noticed a large uptick recently in patients coming with the flu.

“The past week and a half to two weeks we’ve seen a pretty dramatic increase in both flu and upper respiratory diagnoses both at the clinics and the hospital,” Clark said. “It was pretty dramatic. We had not seen much until about a week and a half, two weeks ago roughly and it came on in the eastern part of the state here really pretty quick.”

There have been so many people coming into to RGH with flu symptoms recently that hospital officials are now asking patients to only come in if they have emergent and severe symptoms in order to limit the spread of the illness.

“Right now we are limiting our annual exams so we’ve been calling to reschedule those and just pushing them out a few weeks so they don’t have to sit in here and be in the clinic with those with the flu,” Spence said.

Spence could not recall RGH limiting check ups and wellness visits previously, but she said in past years trailers were set up outside the hospital in order to separate patients with flu symptoms from everybody else.

Clark said PRMC has not instituted any changes this year as a result of the flu outbreak.

Besides the typical measures to limit the spread of germs that health officials promote annually, officials at both hospitals are stressing the importance of getting a flu shot this year.

“That’s one thing we’re trying to reinforce,” Clark said. “It’s not too late, we still have flu shots and it’s one of the best things that people can still do on top of the typical wash your hands, cover your mouth and nose when you cough, etc.”

Spence reiterated that it’s not too late to get a flu shot and that the vaccination provides a benefit even if you do end up catching the flu.

“We still highly recommend getting the flu shot because even if you get the flu shot and you still get the flu, your symptoms will be much less severe,” Spence said.

Other tips for the flu season Spence mentioned included limiting exposure to high traffic areas if possible and to seek medical care as soon as you feel ill.

Spence said RGH does still have some flu shots available but patients would probably be better off going to a local pharmacy that offers flu shots in order to avoid coming into contact with any germs in the waiting room.

Clark said PRMC offers the flu shot both at the hospital and its clinics, and suggested one of the clinics would be a patient’s best option.

Flu shots are also available at local public health offices and various local pharmacies.

The cost associated with the flu shot will depend on the patient’s insurance, officials said.

The New Mexico Department of Health announced earlier in the month that influenza-like illness activity across the state was twice as great compared to this time last year.