CHEO has its busiest start to the year
Posted Feb 28, 2011 03:00:49 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
It has been a busy few months for CHEO, as the children’s hospital reports an all time high number of patients for the start of the year.
So far, CHEO has seen more than 11,500 kids come into the emergency department. That is a 15 percent increase over previous years.
Most of the patients are coming in with flu and viral illnesses, according to the medical director of the emergency department. She says she’s unsure why there has been an increase, although she says that it looks like fewer children have had the flu vaccine this year.
CHEO officials are asking parents to take their kids to their own doctor or to a community health clinic if they have flu or cold symptoms to avoid long waits at the emergency room.
However, they say children should definitely be taken to emergency if they are experiencing breathing problems, have a fever over 100.4 if they are under three months, or if they are hard to wake up while having a fever. They should also come in if they are dehydrated or if they have a serious injury or illness.
