Flu Season Slowing Down
By: Ali Touhey
Updated: February 4, 2013
Greece, NY--Sprains, strains and sickness are running rampant in the emergency department at Rochester General Hospital.
However, after a tough season, they are nearly flu free.
"It's a world of difference," Dr. Bryan Gargano exaplined. "The staff is able to breathe a huge sigh of relief as we see the flu has left and our numbers have gone down."
Dr. Bryan Gargano is the adult medical director for the department.
He says they were treating anywhere from 30 to 50 flu cases at peak points during late December and into January.
"It was a challenge for us to deal with all of the sick patients we were handling."
They added a physician and multiple nurses to treat patients.
Space was also an issue.
"We converted a gym to a patient care area" he added. "We had to have people in the hallways upstairs simply to decompress because there's only so much room in the ED halls.
Since then, we've seen a dramatic decrease in the number of flu patients coming into the Emergency Department and that's a good thing for everybody."For example, of the 89 patients in the ER on Monday, only one was a suspected flu case. But, Gargano says we're not out of the woods just yet.
"It's still in town. We're still seeing some sparatic cases. The most important thing is good hand hygene. Washing your hands, covering your cough, and making sure your not transmitting things."
