With flu season hitting Santa Clarita and most of the country, Dr. Bud Lawrence, Director of Emergency Medicine at Henry Mayo Hospital in Newhall spoke about the flu and how to you can prevent obtaining it.

“This is a very, very heavy flu season,” Dr. Lawrence said. “We are seeing massive numbers of flu patients here at Henry Mayo. Not only are we washing our hands – which is something that you can do at home to help prevent flu. We kind of do our own little quarantine in the sense that we sometimes if you do see a doctor you might see that they are wearing a mask and that’s not to be rude. It’s to keep infection at bay.”

Masks can help to reduce the spread of the flu whether you are infected with the virus or not. Another important aspect, according to Dr. Lawrence, for preventing the spread of the flu is to make sure you wash your hands and be mindful to cough or sneeze into your elbow or other contained space.

Dr. Lawrence urges people to be patient with medical professionals if they are seeking treatment.

According to Dr. Lawrence, emergency departments across Los Angeles County are overloaded and diverting patients to other locations, which has a trickle-down effect on other emergency departments, urgent cares and other healthcare offices.

“The majority of patients can ride this out at home,” according to Dr. Lawrence. “The really young and the elderly tend to have more issues with the flu.”

Lawrence explains that medications like Tylenol and Motrin, in addition to drinking plenty of water, can help most people ease the symptoms of the flu at home.

“Early on in the course of your flu there is a medication called Tamiflu,” Dr. Lawrence said. “Currently there is a national shortage of [Tamiflu], and ideally it should be used for at-risk patients such as the young, elderly, diabetics, people with heart disease and other medical conditions.”

As for prevention of the sickness Dr. Lawrence says “the flu shot … is always a great idea. We always recommend getting the flu shot.”

Dr. Lawrence explains that there is varying effectiveness for the flu shot and that last year there was almost a 40 percent effectiveness of the flu shot. He explains that, while not ideal, it’s still something for prevention of the illness.

Dr. Lawrence made sure to remind people that “whether you’re in your doctor’s office, urgent care or even the emergency department, try to be patient with all the high volumes this year.”

Listen to the full interview by Dr. Bud Lawrence, Henry Mayo Hospital Director Of Emergency Medicine, on the flu:

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