When pandemic flu hits your community, you could find yourself confined to home for a while – either to keep your family healthy or to care for someone who is ill.
Take time now to prepare. Know how to recognize symptoms and prevent the spread of germs. Stock up on medications, supplies and stay-at-home activities.
CAREGIVER SUPPLY LIST
Begin with paper, pen and looseleaf binder notebook. Gather the following information and put it in the notebook:
- family health history sheets
- insurance information and emergency contact numbers
- written asthma action plans
- symptom diary or paper to log the date and time of symptoms and medications given (including dosage) to report to your physician if necessary
Other caregiver supplies:
- Each family member’s asthma and allergy medications (including auto-injectable epinephrine for anaphylaxis)
- Digital thermometer with plastic protective sleeves (use a new sleeve each time you take someone’s temperature)
- Soap
- Disposable gloves (latex-free if anyone in your family has latex allergy)
- Pain relievers, fever reducers, cough and cold medications
- Bleach and disinfectant sprays, wipes and cleaners
- Alcohol-based hand sanitizer
- Paper towels
- Facial tissues
- N95 face masks for every member of the family. Try them on now to be sure they will fit snugly on everyone’s faces.
- Cash (banks could be closed or ATMs out of cash)
- Food and household supplies: Stock up now! Make sure you take any food allergies into account when stocking the pantry. Mark allergy-safe foods with a big orange sticker or other marker to make feeding your family safer during a quarantine.
For more ideas, visit the Health & Human Services pandemic flu page or the Red Cross
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BE SYMPTOM SAVVY
Seasonal and pandemic flu symptoms generally come on suddenly and last a few days:
- Rapid-onset fever
- Chills
- Fatigue
- Dry cough
- Runny or stuffy nose
- Headache
- Severe muscle aches and weakness
Treat symptoms early and aggressively. Activate your asthma action plan at the first sign of flu symptoms to reduce airway inflammation and to keep breathing tubes clear.
Lingering or worsening symptoms from any flu virus may mean you have developed a secondary infection such as pneumonia, dehydration, sinus problems or ear infections – any of which may set off or co-exist with severe asthma symptoms.
In children, emergency warning signs that need urgent medical attention include:
- Fast breathing or trouble breathing
- Bluish or gray skin color
- Not drinking enough fluids
- Severe or persistent vomiting
- Not waking up or not interacting
- Being so irritable that the child does not want to be held
- Flu-like symptoms improve but then return with fever and worse cough
In adults, emergency warning signs that need urgent medical attention include:
- Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath
- Pain or pressure in the chest or abdomen
- Sudden dizziness
- Confusion
- Severe or persistent vomiting
- Flu-like symptoms improve but then return with fever and worse cough
KEEP IT TO YOURSELF
When someone in your household gets the flu, it’s important not to spread the virus to the rest of your family. Follow strict hygiene practices, such as changing clothes after being in the sick room and washing your hands thoroughly every time you touch the sick person or items that were in the sick room. Consider wearing a face mask (an N95 respirator is best) and goggles (any goggles with a tight fit will work – even swim goggles) around the sick person to avoid breathing in flu-laden droplets or getting them in your eyes.
By the time you feel sick, you’ve already spent 24-48 hours sharing your flu virus with family, co-workers, carpool friends and everyone near you in the pharmacy checkout lane. Four days later, they may start feeling achy, too. You may not be able to avoid these early exposures, but once you feel ill, stay home until the virus has runs its course – usually five to seven days – and at least 24 hours after your fever has returned to normal (without the help of medication).
Back at the office and in the classroom, routinely disinfect shared items such as doorknobs, desks, sink handles, keyboards, telephones, copier machine buttons, elevator buttons and filing cabinet drawer pulls. At the grocery store, wipe the cart handle with a disinfectant and use your own pen to sign the receipt at checkout. Most important, keep your hands away from your face and wash your hands frequently. Use alcohol-based sanitizer wipes or gel when soap and water isn’t available.
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CLEAN UP CAREFULLY
Another way to avoid spreading the flu is to be very careful when dealing with items that could have flu germs on them.
- It’s okay to wash the sick person’s clothes and dishes with the rest of the family’s, but use hot water and be sure to wash your own hands after handling germ-laden items.
- Wear disposable gloves when you have to handle used tissues, change diapers, clean up after any “accidents,” or clean bathrooms and other areas used by the sick person.
- Disinfecting is important, but you don’t want to send a family member with asthma into bronchospasm. Clean when sensitive family members are out of the room and air out the house if you can. If the person with flu has asthma, wait until his flu symptoms are gone, then send him out of his room so you can wipe it down. You can disinfect bathrooms or other rooms of the house while he’s in his bedroom. If products with bleach or other disinfectants cause breathing problems for your family, use vinegar, baking soda and water or other nontoxic cleaners. (See The MA Report, October 2008, for recipes.)
- Clean as you go for immediate messes and do an overall disinfecting cleanup after the person with the flu is better.
- Germs can live in respiratory equipment too. Clean and disinfect nebulizers regularly and clean holding chambers and the mouthpiece of each inhaler – following the manufacturer’s instructions.
HAVE MEDICATIONS ON HAND
Be sure family members with asthma have written, customized asthma action plans that include what to do for flu, such as changes in medications.
Talk with your doctor about which over-the-counter (OTC) products you should keep on hand for pandemic flu, especially if someone in your family has asthma or allergies. While OTC cold and flu medications used according to the package instructions may help lessen some flu symptoms such as fever, cough and congestion (except for children under 4 years of age; see information below), they will not lessen how infectious a person is.
OTC cold and flu products often contain multiple medications to treat multiple symptoms, so read labels carefully to avoid giving family members medications they don’t need or giving them too much of one type of medication. Here are some guidelines from CDC:
- Do not give aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) to children or teenagers who have the flu; this can cause a rare but serious illness called Reye’s syndrome. Check ingredient labels on over-the-counter cold and flu medications to see if they contain aspirin.
- Children 5 years of age and older and teenagers with the flu can take medicines without aspirin, such as acetaminophen (Tylenol®), ibuprofen (Advil®, Motrin®, Nuprin®) and naproxen (Aleve®) to relieve fever and aches.
- Children younger than 4 years of age should NOT be given over-the-counter cold medications without first speaking with a health care provider.
- Check the ingredients on the package label to see if the medication already contains acetaminophen or ibuprofen before taking additional doses of these medications—don’t double dose! Patients with kidney disease or stomach problems should check with their healthcare provider before taking any NSAIDS.
HOME-WITH-THE-FLU ACTIVITIES
When someone in your family has flu, it’s important to minimize his or her contact with other family members to prevent spreading the disease. But you can do this without making patients feel like you’re punishing them for being sick.
Fill a sick-day basket with special and thoughtful items your family enjoys. Kids’ items could include craft projects, puzzles, Lego® kits, paper dolls and coloring books. Anyone who’s sick might enjoy movies or their favorite CDs and special pajamas.
Build a pillow fort or erect a makeshift tent in your child’s room to make quarantine time comforting. Just be sure to wash everything thoroughly after the child is no longer contagious.
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START SAVING NOW
Pandemic flu watchers tell us that household incomes could be affected if you can’t work because you or a family member is sick or schools are closed. Consider setting aside money in an emergency fund to cover expenses such as co-pays for medications and doctor’s visits as well as payments for rent or mortgage.
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This article first appeared in The MA Report newsletter, January 2007. Updated by Laurie Ross, August 2009.
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