With flu season in full swing and the swine flu frenzy still at a high, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has launched the NYC FluLine as part of an effort to unclog the city’s crowded emergency rooms.
On campus today, Columbia will be distributing the recently-arrived H1N1 vaccine to high-risk priority groups on campus.
New Yorkers with flu-like symptoms can now call a 3-1-1 hotline for advice on whether or not to seek treatment. Calls will be directed to registered nurses, who are “contracted out by the Health Department and do not work out of a centralized office,” but are “trained in emergency triage services,” said Erin Brady, associate press secretary at the NYC Health Department.
These nurses cannot make diagnoses or prescribe treatment, but will offer information and advice about whether to stay home or see a doctor. If non-emergency medical care is recommended, they will refer callers to local clinics rather than emergency rooms. The NYC FluLine, according to the Health Department press office, is not intended for emergency calls but can reduce and re-direct emergency room traffic from patients who “don’t have or can’t reach a regular health care provider” about their flu-like symptoms, which include “fever with cough or sore throat.” The FluLine is open seven days a week, 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Despite last spring’s early rash of H1N1 concentrated in New York as well as a few other hotbeds, the Health Department also noted that the city is experiencing less influenza than the rest of the northeast region. Yet “though the current rate doesn’t approach that seen in May and June,” according to an influenza press release from the Health Department, “it is well above normal for this time of year. The number of hospitalizations and deaths has also risen since September.” The increase in influenza activity is largely of the H1N1 variety, as “the Health Department has yet to see any uptick in seasonal influenza this fall.”
Although the local health care scene has experienced this increase in influenza, not everyone is confident in the FluLine’s ability to decrease emergency room traffic.
Michael Nelson, a staff nurse in the emergency room at St. Luke’s Hospital on 114th Street and Amsterdam Avenue, said, “We see a lot of people come in with flu-like symptoms.” Nelson noted that although he and other triage nurses in the emergency room do not diagnose, he attributes some traffic increase to the current hype surrounding the swine flu. “A lot of people come in thinking that they have the swine flu,” he said. “But the media causes hysteria.”
Morningside Heights residents had mixed reactions when asked whether they would use the FluLine, although most of those questioned had not yet heard about it. “No, I would not use the hotline,” said Jack Maisel. “I would go straight to my primary care physician close by.”
Daniel Perez, who lives and works in Morningside Heights, said that he would consider calling the NYC FluLine. “I would call first, just to hear the nurses’ advice,” he said. “It might just be regular flu or it might be swine flu. It’s better to be safe than sorry, but getting an opinion before going to the ER makes sense.”
Efforts to combat the flu continue on campus, with Columbia’s 1,200 ordered doses of the H1N1 vaccine arriving from the Health Department and being made available at an event today in the Broadway Room of Lerner Hall from noon to 4 p.m. The vaccines will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis to students, faculty, and staff who meet any of the criteria for priority groups at high-risk for H1N1, including people under 24 years of age, those with medical conditions that increase the risk of flu complications, pregnant women, anyone who lives with or cares for children less than six months old, and health care workers who have direct contact with patients.
The H1N1 vaccine is similar to the seasonal flu shot, but the United States Department of Health and Human Services recommends that people get a seasonal flu vaccine as well as the H1N1 vaccine, as the 2009 H1N1 vaccine will not protect against seasonal flu viruses. Given the currently limited number of H1N1 doses, it is possible that more people will receive the more widely available seasonal flu vaccine.
“I waited in a long line for the seasonal flu vaccine at one of the Columbia events,” Igor Simic, CC ’12 said. “I think everyone should get the seasonal flu vaccine, and I might get the swine flu vaccine when I go home for the holidays, but I don’t think I’ll wait in line for the H1N1 vaccine here.”
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