Flu causing backlog in waiting rooms; vaccine on the way

A flood of patients with flu-like illnesses has left some Colorado Springs doctors’ waiting rooms looking like the Department of Motor Vehicles.

If you’re feeling ill, prepare for a lengthy wait.

H1N1 is the presumed bug, but few providers are testing for it since lab results provide little insight when a disease is so widespread. Virtually all identified cases of Type A influenza have so far been H1N1, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Most cases of H1N1 have been mild, and many people making trips to the doctor could have safely weathered the illness at home.

Penrose-St. Francis Health Services and Memorial Health System have seen recent increases in hospitalizations and ER visits related to the flu. Penrose’s ER saw nearly 50 people last week and admitted three to the hospital, said Todd Farina, interim manager of the Emergency Department. Memorial has set aside a section in its ER for flu-like illnesses, and it recently admitted about 15 people, said spokesman Chris Valentine.

The Pikes Peak region is not unusual. The CDC reported last week that office visits and hospitalizations are increasing nationwide and are higher than usual for this time of year.

Health care providers have been preparing for an especially severe and early flu season since H1N1 surfaced in the spring, but the spike has been more sudden than some expected.

“I think that we got really busy a lot quicker than we thought,” said Rebecca Morland, clinical manager for Penrose-St. Francis’s two urgent care centers. “It just really hit all at once.”

Penrose Community Urgent Care, located at the site of the former Penrose Community Hospital, has seen about a 40 percent increase in volume in recent weeks, Morland said. Of those, about 40 percent are patients with flu-related complaints.

At both Penrose and Memorial Health System’s urgent cares, staff have stayed as late as 1 a.m., despite closing their doors several hours earlier.

Penrose hired an additional nurse for its urgent care center and is trying to train Emergency Room technicians to help it through the busy periods.

Integrity Urgent Care in northeast Colorado Springs also hired staff members to keep up with demand, said Lori Japp, physician assistant and co-manager of the center.

“It’s pretty early in the flu season, so unfortunately I think it’s just going to get worse,” she said.

Dr. Alan Garscadden, chief of pediatrics at Colorado Springs Health Partners, said the practice has seen a “clear uptick” in flu cases in its four pediatric offices in the last week. Cases of flu-like illness have shot up from a usual 15 to 20 percent to as much as 80 percent, he said.

In many cases people do not need to see the doctor for flu, he said. Doctors’ biggest concerns with flu are underlying complications, unusual symptoms such as labored or rapid breathing, and a secondary fever that comes after an initial fever subsides, which is often an indicator of secondary complications like pneumonia.

The El Paso County Department of Health and Environment has received the first doses of H1N1 vaccine and expects to receive more over the next several weeks. People are asked to check with their local health care providers first. If one is not available, the health department will hold flu clinics beginning Oct. 26.

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Call Newsome at 636-0198. Visit the Pikes Peak Health blog at www.pikespeakhealth.freedomblogging.com and the Gazette’s Health page at Gazette.com/health