Gatineau clinics busy following child's flu death

Public and private clinics in Gatineausay they've seen an increase in families looking to get their children vaccinated against the flu following the death of a three-year-old girl earlier this month.

NancyBouchardsaid her normallyenergetic daughter, Charlotte, developed a 42 C fever on Monday, Jan. 14. Doctors in Buckingham, Que. diagnosed her with influenza, but her condition deteriorated and she was transferred to Montreal, where doctors discovered an infection had reached her liver and brain.

She was pronounced dead on Thursday afternoon.

• Outaouais girl, 3, dies from flu

'People are very worried'

"People are very worried, yes, and with cause," said Jenny Laporte, a nurse at Arrimage Sant in Gatineau.

"It's always very serious when a life is lost due to influenza, especially children," she said.

Laporte says the privately funded clinic in Gatineau has been busy with families who don't want to take a chance after what they read in the news.

Public clinics are also seeing an increase ofworried families, according toDr. CarolMcConnery, an infectious disease consultant with the Centreintgrdesantet des servicessociauxdel'Outaouais.

"Most of our big clinics were done and we had to add on some more clinics because of the demand," McConnerysaid.

"We've given about 300 appointments in the last week."

Unlike Ontario, Quebec doesn't have a universal immunization program forinfluenza but the province's health minister is nowlooking into the possibility of expanding the number of people who can receive free flu vaccines.

• Quebec looking at expanding free flu vaccine program

Getting the message out

In a French interview,Bouchard said her daughter wasn't vaccinated against the flu and so she's happy to see people are taking action.

She is awaiting autopsy results to see if influenza was the only cause of her daughter's death as she begins plans for a funeral.

"I know I can't change what happened, but I want to understand it," said Bouchardin French.

Flu vaccine demandin Ottawa

The demand for influenza vaccine has also been high this season in Ottawa.

Ottawa Public Health has seen 410,000 doses of vaccine distributed to healthcare providers and pharmacies, more than for all of the 2017-18 season.

"Flu vaccine is still available at some pharmacies and healthcare providers, and at the OPH immunization clinic, however supply is limited," said Ottawa Public Health's Donna Casey in a written statement.

"Due to this decreasing supply, we have been working with our healthcare partners to continue to enable access to the flu vaccine for Ottawa residents," she added.