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Area hospitals take H1N1 precautions
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Hospital visitors are asked to take extra precautions this flu season.
Area healthcare systems like Hazleton General Hospital and Geisinger Medical Center have implemented a number of safety precautions to help ward off the H1N1 virus, including the enforcement of stricter visitation guidelines and the use of hand sanitizers. Hazleton General Hospital has gone a step farther.
- If you're feeling ill with a cold, fever, or respiratory illness, please do not visit
- No children under 13 are permitted
- Only two visitors per patient at any given time
- Only immediate family may visit the Materity Unit, Intensive Care Unit, Step Down Unit, and pediatric patients
- Masks are provided to people with flu-like symptoms
- People with flu-like symptoms are in a separate waiting area
At Geisinger Medical Center, visitors and patients are currently restricted to four entrance areas in an effort to better screen individuals with flu-like symptoms. Greeters at the door direct visitors and patients to a table where they are asked a few questions about their current health. For example, have you had any fever or flu-like symptoms in the past 24 hours? Those visitors who report symptoms are provided with a mask to wear while inside the building.
So what has been the response from the community? Most people thought the process was a good idea and have been reported to be cooperative. “As a mother, I’m glad precautionary measures are being taken to ensure the health of me and my kids. It makes me feel safer to know that local healthcare systems are doing whatever they have to do to protect everyone who comes through their doors,” said Melissa Biros, a Hazleton area resident.
The precautionary methods at Hazleton General Hospital and Geisinger will most likely remain in place for the duration of the flu season as a way to better protect visitors, patients, and employees.
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