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Kelowna  

Hand washing an issue?

Gastrointestinal illness, which has shut down a unit of Kelowna General Hospital, is more prevalent throughout Interior Health than most other health regions in the province.

There are seven recorded outbreaks in the IH region. Four of those are within the Central Okanagan.

The Fraser Health region has three such outbreaks, while Vancouver Island Health Authority is reporting just one.

There are no reported active outbreaks in hospitals or care facilities in the Coastal region. Figures were not available for the North Health Authority.

Interior Health officials say such outbreaks are not uncommon this time of year.

They are generally spread through poor hand hygiene.

"We encourage visitors and patients to regularly clean their hands when visiting our facilities, and we expect the same of our staff," Interior Health said in an email statement.

"As per our hand hygiene policy, all health-care providers including physicians, contracted employees and students are required to perform hand hygiene before and after touching any patient and/or touching any object that comes in contact with the patient."

The health authority conducts audits four times a year to monitor compliance. The latest figures, from October through December, show the hygiene rate at 2-West, site of the current outbreak, is 82 per cent.

That's above the health authority's average of 80 per cent and the hospital average of 79 per cent.

The hospital's hygiene rate from July through September was just 70 per cent.

"Whenever an outbreak occurs, we do as much contact tracing as we can to determine the cause or source of the outbreak, however our focus is on preventing the further spread of illness."

Overall outbreaks, including influenza and respiratory illness are more prevalent in the Fraser Valley (21) and Vancouver Island (19), than throughout Interior Health (14).



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