| Jackson County News |
February 27, 2008 |
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Posted February 28, 2008; 4:00 p.m. Flu surge affecting area hospitals The major hospitals that serve Jackson County — Athens Regional Medical Center, Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville and the BJC Medical Center in Commerce — have all reported high numbers of inpatient admissions. The result has been that, at times, those hospitals don’t have a bed available for inpatient admissions. James Yarborough, chief executive officer of the BJC Medical Center, said Thursday afternoon that the hospital is considering if it should divert some patients slated to arrive at its doors to another facility. Jackson County E-911 Central Communications director Lou Ann David said area hospitals will notify emergency dispatchers when they need to divert patients to another medical center. That’s a scenario that doesn’t happen too often, but will occur when inpatient hospital beds are scarce, David added. Northeast Georgia Medical Center has developed its plan on how to prioritize inpatient care when additional beds are needed. When patients are slated for discharge for that day, the hospital can expedite their discharge from the facility. On Thursday, the medical center was not diverting patients from its facilities, but was working to make more beds available, according to Melissa Tymchuk with the Northeast Georgia Health System. “We are busy, as everyone is busy,” she said. The 313 inpatient beds available at Northeast Georgia Medical Center’s main campus in Gainesville and its sister hospital, Lanier Park, with 94 beds, were full on Thursday, Tymchuk said. Athens Regional Medical Center also confirmed that it was diverting non-emergency patients from its facility on Thursday. The Athens hospital is asking patients with minor emergencies to visit its Regional First Care Centers, located in Jefferson, Watkinsville and near Athens Technical College on U.S. Hwy. 29, according to hospital spokesperson Mike Picher. Those facilities have board-certified physicians, he added. Yarborough also urged citizens to not panic, take care of themselves and visit their family physicians when symptoms begin to prevent an inpatient admission. The BJC Medical Center is also asking family and friends not to visit its 167-bed nursing home during the flu surge. The nursing home took the same precaution last year, he said. And while the hospital may have inpatient beds open, the BJC Medical Center may not have the staff available to serve those patients, Yarborough said. Many of the hospital’s staff members have also been affected by the flu, he added. The BCJ Medical Center has 90 licensed hospital beds. “We haven’t seen this kind of flu in several years,” Yarborough said. About 75 percent of the inpatient visits at the BJC Medical Center have been related to the flu, he added. Most of those patients are receiving medications and IV fluids. Tymchuk said Northeast Georgia Medical Center’s availability for inpatient beds can change by the day even the hour, depending on the number of patients.
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