The interim president of Sudbury Regional Hospital said she wishes a flu assessment centre had been set up in the community earlier to deal with the H1N1 (swine flu) outbreak.
Bertha Paulse said visits to the hospital's already-busy emergency department have been up an average of 30 per cent during the outbreak.
“It would have taken tremendous pressure off our emergency department to be able to say to the people in our community 'Go to the flu assessment centre if you have a fever or sore throat',” said Paulse, who spoke to Northern Life about the issue Nov. 10 after a hospital board of directors meeting.
The flu assessment centre, which opened Nov. 10 between Hakim Optical and the Bank of Montreal at the intersection of Regent Street and Long Lake Road, is for those with influenza-like illness seeking assessment and treatment.
It is staffed by physicians, nurse practitioners and support staff, and is open 10 a.m. to 10 p.m, seven days a week.
The flu assessment centre has been set up through a partnership between the City of Greater Sudbury, the Sudbury & District Health Unit and Sudbury Regional Hospital.
Other communities, such as Kingston, were “really quick off the mark” in setting up flu assessment centres, said Paulse.
Having people with H1N1 coming into the hospital's emergency department can compromise the health of other patients, she said.
“We have people coming in with all kinds of health issues, and it's not really a good thing to have those people with H1N1 mixed in with our regular emergency patients.”
Paulse said she's seen a levelling-off of H1N1 cases at the hospital in recent days, and she hopes the numbers will start to decline soon.
The surge of H1N1 cases started at the end of October, she said. At one point, there were 47 patients admitted to the hospital with confirmed H1N1 or influenza-like symptoms.
As of Nov. 11, the number of patients admitted to hospital with confirmed H1N1 or influenza-like symptoms stood at 28. This number has been similar for the last few days, which Paulse said indicates the outbreak is no longer increasing.
A total of seven patients with confirmed or probably H1N1 were on ventilators in the hospital's critical care department as of Nov. 10.
No surgical cases were cancelled Nov. 11. Earlier this month, up to 10 surgeries were being cancelled in a day because H1N1 patients were swamping the hospital's resources.
A press release put out by the city about the flu assessment centre advises the public that the centre is “not a full-service walk-in clinic - it is available for the assessment and treatment of influenza symptoms only.”
No medication will be dispensed from the assessment centre, but patients will be given advice on a recommended course of action. The public is also reminded that the assessment centre will not give H1N1 vaccines or test for the virus.
“People experiencing influenza symptoms and having difficulty accessing walk-in clinics or their family physicians are asked to see treatment at the flu assessment centre instead of the emergency department,” stated the press release.
For more information about the flu assessment centre, phone 626-5003.
