Visitors to ALMH encouraged to take precautions to prevent spread of influenza

[January 25, 2014]  Illinois is experiencing a severe flu season, with many people throughout Illinois experiencing flu-like symptoms, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

For the safety of patients and their families, Memorial Health System is recommending that visitors to its three hospitals — Abraham Lincoln Memorial Hospital in Lincoln, Memorial Medical Center in Springfield and Taylorville Memorial Hospital — help prevent the spread of respiratory infections by following the health system's requests that:

• Inpatient hospital visits be limited to two visitors per patient at one time.

• All visitors be 18 or older and show no signs of illness.

The health system also encourages people accompanying outpatients at Memorial facilities to consider these same recommendations.

"People who are ill shouldn't visit someone in the hospital," said Dr. Richard Bivin, medical staff president at ALMH and a family medicine physician with Memorial Physician Services-Lincoln. "This is true any time of year, but especially during flu season. And if you haven't received your flu shot, it's important to take the time to get the shot and protect yourself from the flu."

Seasonal flu activity usually peaks in January and February, beginning as early as October and ending as late as May, according to the CDC website. As many as 20 percent of all Americans get the flu each year.

To prevent spread of the flu, the CDC recommends that individuals take precautions to avoid spreading germs, such as washing your hands thoroughly and often with soap and water, covering your nose and mouth when you sneeze or cough, and getting your annual flu vaccination, available to those 6 months and older.

Most people who get the flu recover completely in one to two weeks, but some people develop serious and potentially life-threatening medical complications, such as pneumonia, according to the IDPH. Over the past decade, influenza and pneumonia have been associated with an average of 3,500 deaths a year in Illinois.

For additional information about the flu, including symptoms and prevention, visit the CDC website, CDC.gov. More information about the flu is available on Memorial's Live Well blog, LiveWellMagazine.org, including frequently asked questions.

[Text from file received from Memorial Health System]