With a flu season that arrived early and with a vengeance, emergency rooms across the Interior Health (IH) region in British Columbia have been extremely busy, especially with pediatric cases.
“We are seeing different types of respiratory infections all at the same time,” said IH medical health officer Dr. Fatemeh Sabet. “That increases the volume of people seeking medical attention and increases the concern among families.”
That concern is prompting more parents to seek medical attention, which is not always necessary and creates long waits in emergency departments.
“For most of the symptoms that children have, they are manageable at home. So families can use fever medication at home, they can hydrate children at home,” Sabet said. “So most of the mild symptoms that children have, they don’t need medical attention.”
Compounding the problem is a shortage of children’s medication.
“I was checking daily. Now I kind of just check weekly to see if we can order any in and yeah, it’s still not available,” said pharmacist and co-owner of Juniper Pharmacy Melissa Keith.
To help parents navigate the somewhat tricky flu season, IH has taken the unusual step of providing parents with a resource guide to help determine what symptoms are concerning and when to visit a doctor or emergency room.
The letter with all of the resources was sent to parents through school districts within IH on Monday morning.
The letter states: “We’re receiving reports of high rates of parents going to urgent and primary care centres, physicians’ offices and hospital emergency departments with concerns about sick children and worries about accessing fever medication.”
“This resource intends to summarize everything, like all the resources for families and for schools on what they can do … both to prevent infection and also what to do when they develop symptoms,” Sabet said.
Central Okanagan Public Schools said it experienced its peak absenteeism about three weeks ago at roughly 14 per cent.
According to school superintendent Kevin Kaardal, that percentage is slowly coming down but with flu season typically lasting until the end of February/early March, there is still a long way to go before it’s over.
Sabet said influenza is the most prevalent respiratory illness right now among children, followed by RSV and then COVID in third place at a “plateaued” rate.
Sabet said while many cases with mild symptoms can be managed at home, parents need to be able to recognize the symptoms that do require medical attention.
“Some more severe symptoms like respiratory distress, shortness of breath, sleepiness or loss of consciousness – these are alarming symptoms that children need to go to the hospital for and seek medical attention,” Sabet said. “So it is important to know when we need to stay home and manage symptoms and when to seek medical attention.”
View the IH letter that was sent to parents by clicking this link and find out more on the BC Children’s Hospital website.
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