No kids allowed: Hospitals ask children not to visit due to flu
SPRINGFIELD, Ore - Women in the maternity ward at Sacred Heart's RiverBend hospital are showing symptoms of the H1N1 swine flu virus, KVAL News has learned.
And at McKenzie-Willamette Medical Center, no children 12 or under are allowed in the hospital at all. The only exception is for children who are the siblings or newborns. They are allowed in the maternity area.
A spokeswoman said this is because they don't want families to miss out on that special moment when a child is born.
Workers are clamping down on who is allowed in the hospital in order to protect their most vulnerable patients.
Many hospitals are asking children not to visit the hospital. This includes RiverBend and McKenzie-Willamette in Lane County.
"Children in our community have their own outbreak of influenza," said Paige Down, the manager of Labor and Delivery at Sacred Heart RiverBend. "And there's an increased incidence of flu for the children."
At RiverBend hospital, signs started popping up late Wednesday night asking children and people showing symptoms of the flu to stay off the 5th floors. The 5th floor is the maternity ward.
Also: No one under the age of 12 can visit on the pediatrics floor unless they are a sibling of a patient.
"The H1N1 flu poses a very serious threat to both pregnant women and newborns," said Becky Moore, the clinical manager at Sacred Heart RiverBend. "It's really our obligation to protect them."
Also on the maternity ward, only one adult is allowed to visit a room at a time, and that person must answer several questions to prove they are not sick or have been exposed to someone else who is.
Both hospitals will implement these rules for at least a couple weeks.
"Even though this is a very wonderful time in people's lives and they want their family here," Moore said of the maternity ward restrictionss, "we need to protect our vulnerable population."
Staff at RiverBend said they might start using Skype or another video service for families of pregnant women so they can still see the new baby.
