Influenza Hits Area
By 250 News
There was a time at Prince George Regional Hospital last week when, the hospital was forced to fly in ventilators to assist patients suffering from the Type A influenza that has blanketed the area over the past month.
One ventilator was flown in from Dawson Creek and a hospital worker who said things were so tight at PGRH, the only advice possible to pass on was "Don’t get sick’.
The flu has hit western Canada with such a vengeance that last week it was reported that no ICU beds were available in western Canada or Washington State.
According to Mark Karjaluota,Northern Health spokesman, the situation has eased, "We now have seven ventilators in use of the ten that the hospital has".
Last week a 39 year old woman who was suffering from the type A influenza died in Vancouver after being transferred there suffering from the virus.
Hospital staff says as the population gets older, there are extra stresses being placed on the system.
Dr. Bert Kelly of the Northern Medical Society says, "We have ten state of the art beds and ventilators. The problem is that we don’t have enough. It is an unbelievable lack of capacity and sooner or later we were going to hit the wall."
In comparison to what the bird flu is expected to bring, this bout with influenza "A" is small says Kelly "What will we do when a major influenza outbreak occurs? The first problem we will have is that we won’t have enough nurses and physicians to handle the case load because many of them will be affected and if you add to that a shortage of beds and you can see what a major overload will take place."
Karjaluoto says the flu has hit this region late this year, normally it has run its course by now.
Medical Health Officer Dr. Lorna Medd says "There are lots of cases of influenza across the north right now, more than most years."
Respiratory illness is showing up in different ages says Medd " In the young people it is RSV virus, ABENO virus, Type A influenza and Type B influenza. The walk in clinics, the doctor’s offices and the emergency ward at the hospital has been very busy."
Medd says for some, getting a flu shot wasn’t enough "Some older people may in fact be getting the Influenza a type virus, in spite of being vaccinated." Medd says in general the effects of the immunization does not last as long in older people and the virus has hit the area late this year.
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Posted by: dwmoskowitz on March 13 2007 8:03 AM
sounds reasonable....
Did the lady die because of the influenza or the waiting for the transfer to be attended too?
I hear rumour that there are actually lots of beds in the hospital , but management refuses to staff them..... is this true????