H1N1 Drive-In

" A swine flu drive in. Take a look some hospitals are setting up drive up -- type clinics to screen potential swine flu patients the idea. They try to keep that sickness out of the hospital building proper. Talk about it with doctor Keith English chief of infectious diseases at -- children's medical center you set up one of these tents. Tent set -- right."

" That's right the tent was set up really two as part of a coordinated effort to deal with a large increase the number of children. Who are presenting to the emergency room many of those children had flu like symptoms and so there's really designed. To allow patients to be strained to determine whether or not they really needed to be violated any emergency department. As a way of making sure that we were able to effectively say the sicker children."

" I I was surprised to read there in Austin Texas where you are you've got fifty you've had about 5500. Kids. Come in with flu like symptoms since the first of August are the majority of those. Actual flu cases are -- H1N1 cases are they just kids you you know have a stomach."

" Well we're here in Memphis Tennessee and the it's true that we've had approximately 5500 to 6000 patients with flu like illness. Present to the emergency room of the last two months. We do know that many of those children are infected with influenza. We've had a thousand documented cases and we suspect that we've had on the order of two to 3000 total cases of influenza. And we know from a variety of different. Pieces of evidence that virtually everyone who has influence right now. Does have this novel H1N1 influenza virus because it's the only virus out there now my apologies forget in the city wrong but what does it can't do forwarded it keeps the emergency room clear. It does two things one thing it does is it helps reduce the number of patients who are being thing in the emergency department are numbers. More than doubled from the average daily census about a 160 years to its highest 400 patients today registering two guys and so. That's just too many patients to be seen in expeditious manner and emergency room so it does allow. Sicker patients to get quicker attention. It also has allowed us to educate families about influenza. Tell them about it and educate them about when they would need to seek. Medical care for their child if symptoms worsened."

" Well on the idea to do is to keep the virus out of the hospital proper because you're in there was you know folks who had open heart surgery that kind of thing. You don't want them coming down with H1N1."

" Well that's true but we are having. Sicker patients of course still need to be seeing emergency department and will be admitted to the hospital in some cases and we do take a variety of measures. To reduce the chances influence can be transmitted within the hospital. There really wasn't the primary reason for the team. All right doctor Keith English from loan from the Bonner Children's Hospital doctor thank you. And John this is."