Dozens at Lake Forest nursing home hit by norovirus

Dozens at Lake Forest nursing home hit by norovirus


BY LINDA BLASER
lblaser@pioneerlocal.com
Last Modified: Jan 20, 2012 02:32AM

Lake Forest Place is treating 50 residents and employees for a norovirus outbreak that occurred over the weekend, a nursing home spokeswoman confirmed.

Thirty-one residents at the long-term care facility in Lake Forest and 19 staff members are being monitored and were reported to the Illinois Department of Public Health, spokeswoman Carolyn Staven said.

“We’re taking all precautions necessary and following IDPH guidelines,” she said.

Those precautions include signs in the lobby warning visitors of an illness outbreak and the offering of hand sanitizer.

“We’re holding off on new admissions this week and next week,” Staven said.

Infected employees have been told to stay home between 48 and 72 hours after the flu-like symptoms abate.

Lake Forest Place residents who have exhibited the severe diarrhea, abdominal pain and vomiting are in isolation and, like the employees, will remain there from 48 to 72 hours after their symptoms stop. The highly contagious virus, which cannot be treated by antiobiotics, is common in such closed quarters as hospitals, nursing homes and cruise ships, according to the Mayo Clinic Web site, www.mayoclinic.com.

“We’re pushing fluids in a healthy person and for some older (patients) are sometimes putting them on an IV for hydration,” Staven said.

She said the virus was brought to the facility from an outside source, but could not say where.

Lake Forest Place, which opened in 1998, has 440 residents and 250 employees.

Nearby Northwestern Lake Forest Hospital and Westmoreland, its long-term health-care facility, do not have the virus, hospital spokeswoman Jane Griffin said.

Please read complete article at link below:


http://newssun.suntimes.com/news/10104593-418/dozens-at-lake-forest-nursing-home-hit-by-norovirus.html