Providers prepare for flu viruses

<p>As the annual flu season approaches, Petaluma Valley Hospital and the Petaluma Health Center are busier than ever making preparations, for they are needing to deal not only with the usual, seasonal flu, but also with the H1N1 (swine) virus.</p><!-- Nothing to do. The paragraph has already been output --><p>Petaluma Valley Hospital is ordering additional supplies and preparing to make staff adjustments.</p><p>“The situation won’t be the same every day,” said Wendi Thomas, PVH’s nurse manager of emergency services. “We are trying to put thresholds in place, and always will be focused on the patients. We’ll monitor situations carefully. </p><p>“We want to think that we are prepared, but we don’t know what to expect, and we’re ready to re-evaluate our plans if necessary.”</p><p>At the Petaluma Health Center, a flu planning committee, consisting of health-care practitioners, managers, supervisors and staff members, has been created.</p><p>“We’ve created a chain of command in terms of who will be in charge of different aspects,” said Dr. Nurit Licht, medical director of the health center.</p><p>Additional supplies have been ordered, vaccinations for the seasonal flu already are provided and H1N1 vaccinations will be available.</p><p>Licht says that PHC practitioners and staff members have been speaking with patients about the H1N1 virus.</p><p>“We discourage patients from coming in if their symptoms are mild. People should go to emergency rooms if they have severe symptoms,” Licht said.</p><p>Petaluma Valley Hospital is expecting its allotment of seasonal flu vaccinations any day, and the federal government has indicated that H1N1 vaccinations should be available by October. The H1N1 vaccinations will be given in two parts, separated by 21 days. </p><p>The Sonoma County Department of Health Services has said that the highest priority groups to receive the H1N1 vaccine are people who live with or provide care for infants less than six months old; anyone aged six months to 24 years; people aged 25 to 64 years who have medical conditions that put them at risk for flu-related complications; pregnant women; and health-care and emergency medical services personnel.</p><p>To provide consistency and efficiency in dealing with the challenging flu season, administrators and practitioners from PHC and PVH, as well as local pediatricians, met last week to discuss a wide range of issues.</p><p>“The meeting was very important, and excellent,” Licht said. “We have a variety of problems in Petaluma, and it’s really important for all of us to have the same level of knowledge.</p><p>“We want to send a consistent message out to the community, and to coordinate follow-through for them.”</p><p>“We want to make sure every provider has the same guidelines,” Thomas added. “And we need each other to survive through this flu season.” </p><p>Spurred by the desire to address public concerns and spread reliable information regarding the H1N1 (swine) flu, the Petaluma Health Care District is working with other local health-care agencies to sponsor a community forum in Petaluma during the next few weeks.</p><p>The PHCD is collaborating with two Sonoma County officials, Dr. Mary Maddux-Gonzalez, the health officer, and Dr. Mark Netherda, the deputy health officer. It also is working with Petaluma Valley Hospital administrators, including Thomas, and with Kathie Powell, the executive director of the Petaluma Health Center.</p><p>“We’re looking at sponsoring a forum soon — probably in mid-to-late September, and no later than the early October,” said Daymon Doss, the PHCD’s executive director.</p><p>When H1N1 was first detected in the United States in April, public concern quickly elevated, and while health-care providers were able to provide some explanations, other aspects of the virus defied — and some still defy — easy explanation.</p><p>Two to three people with H1N1-like symptoms are turning up at PVH each day, and occasionally, people with simply a cold or another symptom not indicative of the virus come there, asking to be swabbed for it. As PVH attempts to address an influx of flu patients, it will need to limit screening to those exhibiting actual symptoms of the disease, Thomas said.</p><p>“A common thread in H1N1 cases is fever: People don’t have the swine flu unless they have a fever. They also may have any of a number of other symptoms, such as a cough, sore throat and general body aches. But you don’t have it unless you have a fever,” Thomas said.</p><p>The virus often is transmitted when someone who has contracted it coughs or sneezes, releasing droplets that enter into other people’s bodies.</p><p>Most people who contract H1N1 are sick for five to seven days, and just as with seasonal flus, most have mild symptoms, and fully recover. People who have more severe symptoms, such as a fever of over 100 degrees for more than three days, chest pains, shortness of breath or altered mental states, are advised to see a doctor.</p><p>The ages of people contracting H1N1 varies somewhat from seasonal flus. </p><p>“With seasonal flus, the curve usually is highest for the very young and very old, but with H1N1, we’re seeing more people between the ages of 20 and 50,” Thomas said.</p><p>Children and adults with medical conditions such as diabetes, asthma, pregnancy and weakened immune systems are at a higher risk to contract H1N1.</p><p>When seemingly healthy young and middle-age adults throughout the country began dying of H1N1 this spring, public concern heightened that genetic mutation of the strain could cause widespread deaths. After studying the virus, federal health officials don’t believe that this will be the case, but many of them have forecast a substantial increase in flu cases. Some parts of the virus developed decades ago, and most people have little or no immunity against it.</p><p>“The disease itself is not what we’re most concerned about: We expect to people to get the flu every year. The biggest concern we have is about the need to treat more patients,” Thomas said. </p><p>Flu season typically runs from November through February, but it isn’t clear how long H1N1 will last or when it will hit its peak, she added.</p><p>(Contact Dan Johnson at dan.johnson@arguscourier.com)</p>