Jayde George News Today

Winter sickness is surging, and patients are packing into Central Florida emergency rooms.

Many Americans are living longer lives than their parents, and regular doctor’s visits deserve much of the credit – but not all of these are staffed by doctors. “I will never say I know as much as a doctor,” says longtime Health First Provider Evan Cataldo, an Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (APRN). “We are an extender of a physician’s services.”

It’s about that time of year. As Americans begin a busy winter and holiday travel season, and thousands of visitors and temporary snowbird residents flock to the Space Coast, cold, flu and COVID-19 symptoms will begin cropping up like sunburns on the beach and mouse ears at the … well … that magical place just to the west of Brevard County.

Dr. Danielle Devereaux directs Health First’s Holmes Regional Medical Center’s Pediatric Emergency Department. She says testing to identify which virus may be causing a severe respiratory infection doesn’t usually impact treatment, “except when there is an underlying medical condition such as prematurity, congenital heart disease, chronic lung disease, sickle cell, or any condition that compromises the immune system.”

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