High number of patients in Windsor Regional Hospital emergency rooms with flu and respiratory problems

By Ioana Iota

Multiple surgeries were cancelled at Windsor Regional Hospital during the last week of January as a result of what seems to be one of the worst flu seasons ever.

“What we are seeing is a surge in patients coming through our emergency rooms,” said WRH communications manager Steven Erwin. “A number of them [patients] are coming with respiratory issues.”

A lot of people that came in to the ER during this surge had to wait much longer than usual to be checked by a doctor because of the high number of patients.

“We usually get a little bit of surge in terms of volume around flu season,” said Erwin. “We are aware that this flu this year is maybe a little bit stronger in terms of impact than in the previous years, so giving that we expect that this could last for some time, so we are asking individuals to be patient,” Erwin said.

“They had to cancel surgeries because of the flu outbreak,” said Faith Gillespie, WRH gift shop manager.

There are some basic techniques to use to protect yourself from getting the flu.

“We are always very conscious to what we call hospital requirement infections. That means proper hand washing techniques, that means different things you do as staff and visitors to the hospital to protect yourself. So these are some precautions that can be taken if someone is unaware they can always speak with the staff member and we can advise them,” said Erwin.