As of today, WakeMed Health & Hospitals is ending the age-related visitation restrictions (no children under the age of 18 permitted in patient care areas) that were created to help stop the spread of H1N1 flu. As always, visitors should consult WakeMed’s normal policies for visiting adult units, the pediatric unit and critical care units [...]

Yesterday, Dr. Bill Atkinson, president and CEO, and Dr. West Lawson, chief medical officer, partnered to send a message to WakeMed’s 7,600 employees about H1N1. The email encouraged everyone to get vaccinated for H1N1and is applicable to health care workers and the community alike.  Excerpts from follow…
 Dr. West Lawson on H1N1
The H1N1 flu is unlike [...]

Julie Stauss Geurink, PharmD, is the Emergency Department Pharmacy Clinical Coordinator, WakeMed Raleigh Campus.  She earned a bachelor in LAS concentrated in Chemistry from University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and her Doctorate in Pharmacy from the University of Illinois, Chicago. Originally from the suburbs of Chicago, lL., she moved to Raleigh-Durham in October 2009 after working at Mayo Clinic [...]

The News & Observer published a great article today written for kids focusing on what they need to know about H1N1.  It has particularly good information about the vaccine choices of nasal spray or injectable. 
 

Dr. Courtney Mann, medical director of the WakeMed Children’s Emergency Department, provides prospective on how she made the decision to vaccinate herself and her two children for H1N1.
The H1N1 vaccine is slowly starting to be available in our community. As a health care provider and a parent, I am often asked by friends and neighbors [...]

The two hottest topics in health care these days are Health Care Reform and H1N1 (aka swine flu).  Today there are two local events on these exact topics.
Health Care Reform
U.S. Representative Etheridge is hosting a discussion on the impact of health care reform on senior citizens this afternoon from 12:30 pm to 1:30 pm at the [...]

It’s been a busy couple of weeks for health care reform.  Here are links to a couple of interesting articles that sum up the conversation.
“Finance Committee Passes Bill With One GOP Vote” Washington Post
“Health-Care Reform Proposals” The Wall Street Journal – This chart compares various versions of health care reform legislation. We’ve posted several charts [...]

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Flu is officially widespread in North Carolina and WakeMed is already seeing more than 80 patients per day across our 5 emergency departments. This flu season it is more important than ever to know how to protect yourself from the flu – both H1N1 and seasonal.  Learn about prevention, signs and symptoms and when to seek health care by [...]