Help Others by Getting Vaccinated!

Do you really want your emergency rooms to look like this again?

From Rochester, NY:  Flu, COVID and RSV on the rise, doctors ask community for help. 

"If you’ve been sick lately, you’re not alone. Outpatient visits to doctor’s offices are up across the area and it’s respiratory illnesses that are on the rise. On Wednesday, the top doctors in our region gathered to encourage the community to protect themselves to try and avoid overcrowding our already overcrowded hospitals. 

"'When they’re all circulating at once, as they did last year, they can place a very significant strain on our community,' says Dr. Michael Mendoza, the Monroe County Health Commissioner. 

"Quite frankly, at the moment… our hospitals can’t take it.

"'The healthcare systems remain extremely stressed with patients. Strong Memorial Hospital and Highland Hospital remain consistently over 100% occupied and this leads to very long wait times in our emergency rooms and it’s frustrating not only for our patients, but for our staff and faculty trying to take care of patients,' says Dr. Michael Apostolakos, the Chief Medical Officer at URMC. 

....

"At this point, for the sake of space and each other, these doctors are asking you to consider a fresh round of vaccines for Flu, COVID and RSV (if you’re over the age of 60).

"'We want to get together, we want to have Bills games and gatherings and tailgating with our families and when push comes to shove, we all want to do so safely.  So, I understand people are tired about talking about these things, but we just don’t have the luxury of burying our heads in the sand and hoping it goes away,. Dr. Mendoza says."

Exactly! So stay home when you're sick, wear a mask instead of coughing in other people's faces, and get your vaccines.