Flu Patients Fill Urgent Care Clinics WESTFIELD, Mass. (WGGB)- Flu season is here and Urgent Care clinics are ready to accommodate. “We do have extra staff, mid level providers that come in and help out when needed especially on weekends and Monday’s which are our busiest days,” says Troy Chilson, a physician’s Assistant at Noble Express Care in Westfield. The parking lot was full of cars on Monday afternoon and patients are inside with the coughs, body aches, and a fever. “On an average 35 to 40 sometimes over 50 patients come into the clinic in a day,” Chilson explains. Many who visit an Urgent Care facility can’t make an appointment with their primary care physician right away, or they want to avoid an very long wait. The clinic aims to get their patients in and out within an hour. Waiting rooms are usually busy so if patients have symptoms of cold and flu they are asked to wear a mask. We are well into the flu season, but there could be another reason for the spike in cases. The office has reported the flu depite many getting a flu shot. “The flu vaccine is not as efficient as last year. There’s a variation in the virus that is proving the vaccine this year is not as effective and so we’re seeing a lot of patients with the flu and complications, especially with patients over 65,” Troy says. He predicts it will continue to be a very busy flu season and recommends to seek health care at first symptoms of the flu. According to the center for disease controls “fluview” report this week, influenza activity in the u.S. Remains high overall and is likely to continue for several weeks. They recommend to still get a flu shot if you haven’t gotten one yet… Despite the fact that it may not protect against every strain of the flu.
Posted on: Mon, 12 Jan 2015 22:38:13 +0000
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