Area health providers ask employers, schools for help alleviating clinic congestion October 22, 2009

The health departments of Scott and Rock Island County, along with Trinity Regional Health System and Genesis Health System, are asking for the cooperation of businesses and school districts to help reduce traffic to doctor offices during flu season. In a memo sent to area chambers of commerce and school districts on Wednesday, the health-care organizations are asking school districts and employers to immediately relax their policies (temporarily) and not require a doctor's note prior to returning to school or work. Doctor offices are receiving large numbers of requests for signed forms for patients returning to work and returning to school. These requests bring people to offices for routine visits at a time when many clinics are already seeing larger volumes from those seeking treatment for flu-like symptoms. There are a lot of people with flu in the region who are seeking treatment. This not only increases exposure risk for patients but also strains the resources of an already busy office. At the same time, some physician offices are experiencing flu within their staffs, which reduces staffing. The groups remind the public that the CDC recommends that people with influenza-like illness remain at home until at least 24 hours after they are free of fever (100° F [37.8°C]), or signs of a fever without the use of fever-reducing medications. ###

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