Doctors and nurses in the Texas Health Presbyterian Denton Neonatal Intensive Care Unit aren’t taking any chances with the widespread flu outbreak in North Texas.
The NICU cares for premature and still developing newborns in Denton. The patients are often some of the youngest and most vulnerable who simply can’t be exposed to the flu virus.
"They don't have the resistance to infections that adults do,” said Neonatologist Dr. Richard Sidebottom.
So, the NICU is one of the “high risk” areas of the hospital taking on extra precautions right now to keep the flu epidemic out.
The area is always locked down in a building separated from most of the hospital’s population.
Also, normally only family is allowed in to interact with their baby and are required to scrub their hands for three minutes in an isolation room before entering and wear protective masks and gloves if they show any sign of illness.
Now with the nasty flu season, the hospital has cut down the visitor limits to only allow parents and grandparents into the ward and only if they’ve had a flu shot.
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All staff in the NICU, and hospital wide, are also required to have a flu shot with few exceptions.
Aside from the isolated areas like the NICU, Texas Health Presbyterian is also stressing hand washing and sanitizing throughout their facilities as they stay very busy with flu patients right now.
"The best way to decrease infections is to wash your hands,” said Sidebottom. "Not that much disease is passed even through coughing. It's usually through hand contact."
Sidebottom and staff are also stressing the flu shot to all patients, but especially to expecting moms right now. He said it’s another safe-guard to keep the flu away from newborns and also, hopefully, pass some of its antibodies onto the child.
