Flu Hitting Hospitals and Care Units Hard

If you have the flu and need to go to the hospital, you better be ready to wait.

Since last Friday, over 1,400 people have been treated for the flu or influenza-like-illnesses at the Genesis Good Samaritan Hospital emergency department or both of their urgent care units. Director of Emergency and Trauma Services, David Davis, says they’re happy to treat every sick patient, but to please understand that since the flu has been hitting in such high volumes they’ve been extremely busy.

"We are really, really busy, the wait times are gonna be long. If you need to come in, if you’re having chest pains, if you’re having a high fever, if you need to come in for anything, please don’t hesitate. But understand that the wait times may be long, there’s a lot of people in the waiting room and you know, we’re gonna do our best to see the sickest people first and it may be a long wait."

Davis says there are plenty of ways to stay healthy during flu season, and it is never too late to get your flu shot.

"Stay away from sick people, wash your hands frequently, cover your coughs and cover your sneezes and it still makes tons of sense to get your flu shot. The flu shot still works, it’s an effective vaccine, the flu bugs mutate, they mutate every year, but if you haven’t got a flu shot, it’s still the single best thing you can do."

For more information on the flu or for ways to stay healthy, you can visit the the CDC’S website at www.cdc.gov/flu