Canandaigua, N.Y. - Thompson Health is taking new steps to make sure patients are protected from the flu. Visitors can don face masks provided by the hospital, and can also use hand sanitizer before walking in the hospital doors.
Once inside, anyone under the age of 18 is restricted from the hospital's birthing center because newborns and pregnant women are considered high risk.
The new rules also apply to any adult experiencing flu-like symptoms. Hospital administrators say they continue to plan for a possible outbreak.
Thompson Health Administrator Deborah Weymouth said, “We have a lot in the works, including where we would triage patients, how we would physically change the layout of the hospital, how we would physically change access... coming and going of patients and residents…the planning is still underway as it evolves.”
Administrators say if you go to the hospital for any sort of symptoms go alone; don’t take the whole family--it only increases the chances that people will become infected with some sort of flu virus.
