Area hospitals up security during flu outbreak

INDIANA (WLFI) - Franciscan St. Elizabeth Health is taking temporary precautions to prevent the spread of the flu virus by limiting visitors to its hospitals.

The measures, effective at Franciscan St. Elizabeth Health (Lafayette East, Lafayette Central and Crawfordsville East) include:

• No one under the age of 18 will be allowed to visit unless they are a parent
• Only healthy adults will be allowed to visit
• No visitors will be allowed beyond immediate family, partner or significant other

If you have the flu or you’ve experienced flu-like symptoms (fever, cough, runny nose, headache, body aches), you need to stay home and take care of yourself. And if you’ve been exposed to someone with these symptoms, stay home.

Additionally, visitors are asked to sanitize their hands before coming into the hospitals and to wash their hands often, especially before entering a patient’s room and upon leaving. Hospitals are equipped with hand sanitizer units.

Any visitor to the hospital could be screened for signs and symptoms of influenza and other illness prior to entrance. Any exceptions to the restrictions listed above will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

For children under the age of 18 or other individuals who are not able to visit a loved one in the hospital, our hospitals have free, public wireless Internet access that permits communication via consumer-based tools such as Skype and FaceTime.

If a patient requires special assistance in communicating with a loved one, every effort will be made to accommodate their request.

“We apologize for any inconvenience that these visitor restrictions may cause,” Spokesman Matthew Oates said. “However, we feel it is imperative to take these preventative steps for the protection of our patients, hospital staff and visitors.”

IU Health Arnett spokeswoman Carrie North says Greater Lafayette IU Health Arnett facilities are open as usual, with no restrictions in place at this time. She did say activity will be monitored on a day-to-day basis, so this may change.