BAKERSFIELD, CA -- With the recent flu outbreak, emergency rooms and urgent care facilities report higher than usual patient intake.
This is a busy time of year for healthcare providers, but Memorial Hospital Emergency Services Director Jenny Wilson says the number of patients seeking treatment has dramatically increased in the past few weeks.
Wilson said, "Normally we were seeing about 180-200 patients a day. Just a few days ago, I think the day after Christmas, we saw almost 260."
This trend is consistent at other facilities as well. Mercy Hospital Southwest usually sees between 120 and 130 people daily. Now it's from 150 to 160. The downtown facility where they average 70 to 80 patients -- recently began seeing 90 to 100.
Wilson says they usually don't see a large increase until February or March.
"Normally it's a little bit later in the year, it's not this early, right after Christmas. We've been seeing this cold going around. It's a cough that people seem like they're not able to get rid of. We're seeing some also, this gastro intestinal virus," said Wilson.
Public health officials say 12 people were hospitalized last week with a serious strain of the flu.
Dr. Claudia Jonah said, "Recently, there was an increase in numbers of persons with severe influenza, requiring hospitalization and more than half of these people ended up in the intensive care unit many of them on ventilators."
"Operations are a little bit slower right now. We actually had to open up another ICU wing to be able to unburden the emergency room," said Wilson.
Wilson says wait times vary, based on the patient's condition.
Wilson said, "If you're coming in for a cough, cold we have an area of our lobby called our rapid intake treatment zone and normally it's about an hour to an hour and a half. It could go as long as two hours. If you're coming with abdominal pain and you need x-rays or you need blood work, you're going to be coming into our moderate care area of our emergency room and that's usually right around 3-4 hours."
Many emergency rooms and urgent cares offer online registration, to speed up the process. Public health officials say it's not too late to prevent influenza by getting the vaccine.
This is a busy time of year for healthcare providers, but Memorial Hospital Emergency Services Director Jenny Wilson says the number of patients seeking treatment has dramatically increased in the past few weeks.
Wilson said, "Normally we were seeing about 180-200 patients a day. Just a few days ago, I think the day after Christmas, we saw almost 260."
This trend is consistent at other facilities as well. Mercy Hospital Southwest usually sees between 120 and 130 people daily. Now it's from 150 to 160. The downtown facility where they average 70 to 80 patients -- recently began seeing 90 to 100.
Wilson says they usually don't see a large increase until February or March.
"Normally it's a little bit later in the year, it's not this early, right after Christmas. We've been seeing this cold going around. It's a cough that people seem like they're not able to get rid of. We're seeing some also, this gastro intestinal virus," said Wilson.
Public health officials say 12 people were hospitalized last week with a serious strain of the flu.
Dr. Claudia Jonah said, "Recently, there was an increase in numbers of persons with severe influenza, requiring hospitalization and more than half of these people ended up in the intensive care unit many of them on ventilators."
"Operations are a little bit slower right now. We actually had to open up another ICU wing to be able to unburden the emergency room," said Wilson.
Wilson says wait times vary, based on the patient's condition.
Wilson said, "If you're coming in for a cough, cold we have an area of our lobby called our rapid intake treatment zone and normally it's about an hour to an hour and a half. It could go as long as two hours. If you're coming with abdominal pain and you need x-rays or you need blood work, you're going to be coming into our moderate care area of our emergency room and that's usually right around 3-4 hours."
Many emergency rooms and urgent cares offer online registration, to speed up the process. Public health officials say it's not too late to prevent influenza by getting the vaccine.