WINSTON-SALEM – Brenner Children’s Hospital has closed the sixth floor (intensive care units) to visitors under the age of 18 -- including siblings -- and is asking parents not to bring their children to visit patients at the children’s hospital this flu season.
“We are working hard to prevent the spread of flu to children who are already sick and hospitalized,” said Jon S. Abramson, M.D., pediatric infectious disease specialist and chair of pediatrics at the children’s hospital. “Children who have been admitted to our intensive care units are already seriously or critically ill and need to avoid close contact with others who may already have the flu. Flu can seriously compromise the health of an already sick child.”
No one under the age of 18 is allowed on the sixth floor of Brenner Children’s Hospital including: the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and the intermediate care nursery, the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU), the pediatric intermediate care unit, the sixth floor pediatric unit and the waiting rooms.
The NICU and Intermediate Care nursery are restricted to parents or primary caregivers only.
“This includes siblings of our patients,” said Maureen Sintich, R.N., M.S.N., interim vice president of the children’s hospital and vice president for operations, chief nursing officer. “We are asking that all parents make other childcare arrangements for their children. This policy is to protect the health of our patients and staff.”
The flu visitation policy is effective today. For more information about the H1N1 flu, visit brennerchildrens.org.
Brenner Children’s Hospital is part of Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.
Media Contact: Rae Bush, rbush@wfubmc.edu, 336.716.6878; Bonnie Davis, (336) 716-4977, bdavis@wfubmc.edu; Shannon Koontz (336) 716-2415, shkoontz@wfubmc.edu.
About Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center: Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center is an academic health system comprised of North Carolina Baptist Hospital, Brenner Children’s Hospital and Wake Forest University Health Sciences, which operates the university’s School of Medicine and Piedmont Triad Research Park. The system comprises 1,154 acute care, rehabilitation and long-term care beds and has been ranked as one of “America’s Best Hospitals” by U.S. News & World Report since 1993. Wake Forest Baptist is ranked 32nd in the nation by America’s Top Doctors for the number of its doctors considered best by their peers. The institution ranks in the top third in funding by the National Institutes of Health and 4th in the Southeastern United States in revenues from its licensed intellectual property.