MONROE - Monroe Clinic is tightening down on visits to hospital patients and taking other precautionary steps to protect its patients, its staff and the community from the flu virus that has arrived early in the U.S. "We have experienced some high census day," said Paula Elmer, Monroe Clinic's vice president of clinical operations and chief nursing office, "but our physicians and staff have worked together to accommodate patients' needs. We have been busier over the last year, and that is what prompted the build out of the eight shelled rooms on the inpatient unit, which is in progress." As in most parts of the country, Wisconsin is having widespread influenza activity and having it earlier than in past years, according to Green County Health Director RoAnn Warden.
Area preps for early flu arrival