Texas Opens Hotline, Offers Advice To Avoid H1N1
EL PASO, TX — Even though Texas has only received less thana million of its projected 3.4 million doses of the H1N1 flu vaccine, state health officials want residents to know they are not neglecting the needs of the hundreds of thousands of those who are an immunization priority.
The Texas Department of State Health Services has set up a hotline number. You can reach it by dialing 2-1-1.
“At 211, we have health care experts available 24 hours a day, seven days a week who can answer your questions and give you advice on how you can care for yourself at home,” said Dr. David Lakey, the Commissioner for the TX DSHS.
Whether you contact 211 or you get in touch with your physician, the state is asking you to track your symptoms and when you started exhibiting them if you are sick with the flu.
In sick children, keep an eye out for fast or troubled breathing, blue or gray skin color, and an inability to wake up or an unwillingness to interact with others. Other symptoms that appear in children include:
Not drinking enough fluids; or in infants, a lack of tears when they cry
Being so irritable that the child does not want to be held
Flu-like symptoms improve but then return with fever and worse cough
Fever with a rash
While some clinics in El Paso are already offering a limited number of swine flu vaccines to children, pregnant women, and those with preexisting medical conditions, the state of Texas is expecting to receive more doses before the end of the month.
Written for kvia.com by Anchor/Reporter Stephanie Valle
