Providence Centralia Hospital is now turning away visitors who are exhibiting flu-like symptoms in an attempt to limit the spread of swine flu and protect hospital patients.

    The hospital raised its preparedness from Level 1 to Level 2 after the hospital’s emergency department started to see “many” patients exhibiting flu-like symptoms over the past week, according to Public Relations Manager Chris Thomas. Level 5 is the highest preparedness rank at the hospital.

    Thomas said the emergency department typically sees about 100 patients a day. However, more than 130 patients were seen on Saturday and again on Sunday with a third of them experiencing flu-like symptoms.

    He said four patients have been admitted into the hospital due to their illness this week.

    Entrances to the hospital will be limited, only the Emergency Department and North entrances will be open, and visitors will be screened before entering.

    Visitors will be asked by hospital staff whether they are experiencing a fever, cough, sore throat, body aches or chills. If cleared, visitors will receive a green sticker.

    Those suffering from those symptoms will be asked to leave.

    “If their presence is critical for the well-being of the patient they are visiting, they will be required to wear a mask,” the hospital stated in a news release. “An example would be a support person for a woman having a baby or a loved-one of a terminally ill patient.” 

    Visitors under the age of 18 will not be allowed into the hospital due to their higher rate of exposure to the flu, unless they are a patient, significant other of a patient or the parents of special care infants or pediatric patients.

    “By the public getting more educated, we’ll hopefully see a drop,” said Jill Cooper, vice president of quality for the Providence Southwest Service Area.

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Flu-Like Symptoms in Children Have ‘Hit Us Hard’

    Staff at Northwest Pediatric centers in Centralia, Chehalis and Rochester have been keeping extremely busy this week.

    About 600 children have visited the three clinics on Monday and Tuesday, most with flu-like symptoms, and the Centralia clinic has received about 100 phone calls a day from parents mulling over whether they should bring their child in, according to Practice Manager Lisa McKay.

    “Unfortunately, it’s hit our community and hit us hard,” she said about the recent rash of children suffering from flu-like symptoms.

    Dr. Aaron Dalan said even though the Centralia clinic has seen a spike in the number of sick children, no one seen has yet to be hospitalized.

    The clinic has also watched their small allotment of vaccines nearly dry up, giving out about 45 to 50 vaccinations a day since they became available late last week.

    Marie Tucker, health educator for Lewis County Health Department, said the county is still unsure of when the next shipment of vaccinations will arrive, but said they could arrive sometime next week.

    The county health department was anticipating to receive 5,000 doses, but only received about 1,500 due to a slowdown in production.

    The first round of vaccinations include FluMist, which contains a live weakened version of the virus, and injectables that contain a small amount of Thimerosal.

    Thimerosal is typically not given to small children, but a state ban has been lifted in light of vaccine shortages, though parents must be made aware that a small amount of the mercury preservative is in the shots.

    “It’s hard to say it’s safe to put mercury in your kid’s body,” Tucker said, adding studies that have tried to link the preservative to autism in children have come back inconclusive. “The benefit of the vaccination outweigh the potential risk of taking a very small amount of Thimerosal.”

    Marqise Allen: (360) 807-8237