Maybe you, your spouse or your children have suffered through a bout of the flu this season. It is not a lot of fun! The aches, chills, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. But for all of the terrible symptoms of this dreaded illness…it is rarely fatal to otherwise healthy Americans. However, the flu can be deadly to residents of nursing homes!
For example, of the six nursing home residents who died during a recent influenza outbreak at Woodland Park Rehabilitation Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, five died from the flu, according to the latest information provided by the Salt Lake Valley Health Department. In all, 35 residents, or 23 percent, and 22 staff, 14 percent, were sick during the outbreak!
If you have a family member living in a nursing home, make sure the nursing and medical staff are closely monitoring the residents for signs of the flu. If the symptoms are present, get prompt medical attention. If more than one or two residents are sick with flu symptoms at the same time, immediately consult a doctor with experience in infectious diseases and consider isolating those residents who are sick to prevent a facility-wide epidemic. You might just save your family member’s life!