Holiday

traumas, accidents and the flu all contributed to

Fayette Community Hospital's Emergency Room (ER)

treating a record 125 patients Sunday, Jan. 2.

According

to Dr. Julie Ballard, on staff in the ER, the

number of patients seen daily is usually below

100, the average being between 70 and 80. The

unprecedented number of patients caused longer

than normal waiting times, but Ballard said

"people have been pretty nice," under

the circumstances.

Additional

medical staff was called in. "We're always

ready for this sort of thing," Ballard said.

Ryan

Duffy, community relations spokesman for the

hospital, said that 54 beds were occupied on the

floors. The hospital is licensed for 100 beds,

but "we push the comfort zone at 45 to 50,

going into semiprivate rooms," Duffy said.

Looking

back to Christmas Day 1998, the hospital treated

86 patients in the ER and had 15 inpatients. This

year, those numbers climbed to 94 ER visits and

42 inpatients.

In

response to the growing number of flu cases

reported in the county, Duffy supplied some fast

flu facts from GlaxoWellcome, Inc.

The flu is an

airborne virus spread from one person to another

Although flu

symptoms are felt throughout the body, the flu

virus lives and multiplies primarily in the

lungs.

Upset stomach and

vomiting are not symptoms of the flu -

"stomach flu" is usually caused by

other microorganisms and is often mistakenly

referred to as the flu.

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