CHEO breaks monthly record as flu strains ER

The emergency department at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) has emerged from its busiest month on record, as influenza continues to ravage the city's youngest patients.

CHEOsaw an average of 249 visits per day to its emergency department in February,peaking at 303 on the Sunday of the Family Day long weekend and surpassing February2016, which sawa daily average of 240 visits.

I think parents are always worried. We all are.- Dr. Lindy Samson, CHEO

December 2014 was third-busiest with233 ER visits per day, while January 2018 averaged 232 per day.

The hospital is blaming this year's strain of influenza B, which hitschildren especially hard.

"Our emergency department is seeing more children than they've ever seen before," said Dr. Lindy Samson, chief of staff and chief medical officer at CHEO. "We've had several viruses, influenza being the main one, that are causing especially this year younger children to become sick."

In January, patients who checked into the ER with relatively mildflu-like symptoms, includingcolds andgastroenteritis, made up nearly 50 per cent of all visits. February's breakdown was not available.

"I think parents are always worried. We all are," said Samson, who advised parents to bring their children in only if they're having problems breathing or retaining fluids.

The flu tends to affect the young, the old and those with underlying medical conditions most severely.

However the recent case of an otherwise healthy 39-year-old Gatineauwoman who died three days after being diagnosed with the flu is sure to case alarm.

• 3 days after flu diagnosis, 39-year-old Gatineau woman dies

As the only dedicatedchildren's hospitalin the region, CHEO accepts patients from far and wide, including Quebec.

On Thursday morning parents bringing their children to the ER had to wait 30 minutes just to register.

Among them wasGatineauresidentRoudy Vaillancourt,whofeared his 2-year-old sonFenix had dislocated his arm.

"I don't want to be here," Vaillancourt said. "I don't think anybodywants to be here, and I just hope everything goes fast in the end and that my son can go home and sleep at home."