Agencies brace for swine flu

Local agencies are gearing up for an outbreak of H1N1 influenza that could affect as many as one in four Californians this fall, according to the California Department of Public Health.

Officials at the nonprofit Share Our Selves, which runs a free community clinic in Costa Mesa, are preparing to be on the frontline of the potential flu epidemic.

“As a free clinic who sees people who don’t have access to health care, we expect a lot of people with swine flu will come to clinics like ours,” said Patrick Chen, associate medical director at Share Our Selves.

The clinic also expects to see more families without health insurance this flu season because of high unemployment rates and state budget cuts that have slashed funding to low-cost insurance programs for families, Chen said.

Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian has instituted extra precautions to prevent the spread of the H1N1 virus — better known as swine flu — such as posting signs encouraging visitors and patients to wash their hands frequently, said Philip Robinson, medical director of infection, prevention and epidemiology at Hoag.

The hospital also has stocked up on surgical masks and gloves.

“We’ve been very aggressive in preparing the hospital for a potential influx of patients, whether it be patients who are well but worried or people who actually need to be hospitalized,” Robinson said.

However, the majority of people who contract the virus can be treated at home, Robinson said.

“The most important thing to do if someone thinks that they are sick is to have a conversation with their doctor, and they can typically be taken care of outside of the hospital,” he said.

Simple measures, such as hand-washing, staying home while sick, and muffling coughs with an arm, can help curb the spread of the virus, Robinson said.

The Newport-Mesa Unified School District has asked parents to keep sick children home from school for at least 24 hours because of the virus, said district spokeswoman Laura Boss.

“We’re educating people that if you’re sick and you have these symptoms, then don’t come to school,” Boss said.

The district also plans to send out letters to parents soon and post information on the district website to remind people to take extra precautions to prevent the spread of the virus, Boss said.

The Orange County Health Care Agency is in the midst of planning a large-scale distribution of H1N1 vaccine throughout the fall and winter months, but there is no information yet on how many doses will be available or exactly when people will have access to the vaccine.

“It’s all still in the planning stages,” said Tricia Landquist, a spokeswoman for the Health Care Agency.

The Health Care Agency recommends that people from high-risk groups such as pregnant women and those who live with or care for a child younger than 6 months get the vaccine first once it becomes available, she said.

Agency officials expect the vaccine to be available by the end of October.

So far, the Health Care Agency has recorded 19 fatalities and 217 hospitalizations attributed to the H1N1 virus, Landquist said. The number of H1N1 cases in the Newport-Mesa area was not immediately available.