Bartlett Regional | HouseCalls | Summer 2017

6 HouseCalls Summer 2017 On a typical morning, Infection Preventionist Charlee Gribbon, RN, stands in a huddle with a couple dozen staff and gives a brief daily report. “The GI bug in Juneau that was passing around last week has seemed to wane,” she announces. “Although we are still seeing a high number of flu and upper respiratory illness circulating, the community seems to be getting over what—I hope—is the worst of the respiratory symptoms.” At the start of the year, Gribbon became the latest infection preventionist at Bartlett Regional Hospital. After 11 years at Bartlett as a registered nurse in the critical care unit and emergency department and as a house supervisor, she was ready to take on a new challenge and specialty. The field of infection prevention is “where you focus on Our infection preventionist aims to stop diseases from spreading through the community numbers to know: flu stats You can spread the flu virus a day before you have symptoms. You can also pass on flu germs up to 7 days after becoming sick. BETWEEN PERCENT OF PEOPLE IN THE U.S. GET THE FLU EVERY YEAR. ~ AND ~ 5 20 On average, more than 200,000 people nationwide are hospitalized every year because of complications from the flu. Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention contained Contagion Bartlett Infection Preventionist Charlee Gribbon, RN