KALISPELL — Logan Health Children’s Hospital in Kalispell is seeing an uptick in RSV and influenza cases.
“We anticipate that this is just the beginning of our peak, that over the next 2-4 weeks we will continue to see cases rise, following the pattern that we’ve seen around the rest of the country,” said Logan Health Children’s Hospital Physician Dr. Courtney Paterson.
“Particularly in the last week or two we’ve started to see a significant uptick in the number of kids coming in with symptoms of RSV and flu, things like fever, runny nose, cough, trouble breathing,” added Dr. Paterson.
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Dr. Paterson said the influx of respiratory illness has varied in severity, with some children needing overnight stays in the hospital.
“We’ve definitely had a handful of kids come in who have been severely ill, not only needing the hospital but needing critical care services as well.”
Dr. Paterson said parents should be on the lookout for fever, runny nose, cough and sore throat which are all symptoms of both RSV and influenza.
“Those under 12 months of age are usually our highest risk population for needing admission to the hospital, which is why we really promote staying home when you’re sick, getting your annual vaccines and considering the new RSV vaccines for pregnant women and their babies.”
Dr Paterson said Logan Health has implemented visitor restrictions across all hospital grounds as they try to limit the spread of respiratory illness.
“Here at the hospital, we just ask that those visitors who are under the age of 13 to maybe just stay home, stay safe and don’t visit the hospital unless there’s a special situation.”
She said healthcare workers at Logan Health Children’s work diligently to make sure all patients receiving care stay safe.
“We’re fortunate that here at the children’s hospital every pediatric patient that’s admitted has their own individual room, and if they do have an illness like RSV or influenza that’s potentially contagious, we’re able to place them into a very comfortable room where parents can stay with them," Dr Paterson told MTN. "Our staff have to gown and glove just to be able to make sure we don’t take that to another patient, but then we’re able to care for everyone no matter the reason why they are in the hospital.”
