This ER nurse has some horror stories to tell about the flu

A Florida hospital nurse is mad as heck and she’s not going to take it anymore.

So what has gotten Escambia County nurse Katherine Lockler so frustrated?

Parents or coaches who bring their healthy kids to the ER when they really don’t belong there. Don’t you know that the otherwise well-intentioned adults are bringing their toddlers and softball teams into “a cesspool of funky flu at the ER” right now?

If you didn’t know that, Lockler will tell you. Oh, how she’ll tell you.

Lockler lives in Milton and works in several emergency rooms in Northwest Florida, where the flu is running high in numbers not seen since the 2009-10 flu season. She sat down in her car after a 12-hour shift Saturday morning and did a video in which she recounts hospital horror stories.

In the video, she offers tips on how to avoid the flu or treat it yourself. Tamiflu, she said, won’t cure the flu but will limit the time you’ll have it. Better yet, before treating the ER as a first option, get yourself some over-the-counter Tylenol or ibuprofen and take dosages big enough — 400 to 600 milligrams for men or women or 800 for “a big dude” — to wipe out the fever. Drink plenty of fluids like Gatorade, water or Powerade to stay hydrated.

“And wash your stinking hands so you don’t make your babies sick!”

Above all, if you aren’t truly sick, stay home. She notes how 25 to 30 patients are sitting in the ER for hours. “Some [are] walking in with the flu and so guess what? Five flus walk in, 15 flus walk out! And they don’t even know they have it. But they’ll be back!”

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