Flu Sufferers Swamp Area Care Facilities

Hundreds of people suffering from flu-like symptoms, bronchitis or pneumonia swamped hospitals Friday in Orange County, prompting seven medical centers to close their overcrowded emergency rooms temporarily, county health officials said.

Though the situation here is not as dire as in Los Angeles, health care officials asked that only people with serious illnesses seek care from hospital emergency rooms.

“We’re seeing mostly pneumonia and bronchitis. People are having a tough time seeing their own doctors so they wind up in the emergency rooms,” said Dr. Herb Rosenzweig, Orange County Health Care Agency’s director of medical services.

More than half of the hospitals in Los Angeles are reporting emergency rooms overcrowded by people seeking treatment for the flu and other infections, forcing ambulances to scramble for facilities with space for new patients, said Jim Lott, a spokesman for the Health Care Assn. of Southern California.

December is characteristically a time of increased demand for emergency services, Lott said. San Bernardino and Riverside counties are reporting problems as well, he said. Most of the Orange County hospitals with patient backlogs are in the south, where recent population increases have outpaced the growth of medical facilities, Rosenzweig said.

“It’s not out of hand in Orange County,” Lott said. “But Orange County hospitals are reaching capacity, and they have had spotty problems.”

Many of those seeking treatment have flu symptoms, respiratory infections, bronchitis and pneumonia, officials said.

“It’s true that influenza is circulating, but there are also many viruses that are circulating that could make people sick,” said Dr. Hildy Meyers, the county’s epidemiologist.

At South Coast Medical Center in Laguna Beach, several emergency room staff members, including a physician, became ill Friday, said Ellen Turnbull, vice president of marketing. The hospital closed its emergency room briefly during the afternoon.

Before those who are ill turn to an emergency room for help, officials recommend that they call a doctor or go to a clinic or urgent care center.