Hampden illnesses spur precautions

HAMPDEN – Emergency personnel were taking no chances Wednesday morning after two people were taken sick about the same time at the U.S. Post Office facility.

It was determined later that one of them had the flu while the second appeared to have suffered anxiety problems during training programs at the postal facility. The two were on the same floor, but in different sections of the building and they had no contact with each other, said Ray Pipes, fire inspector and emergency medical technician with the Hampden Fire Department. Pipes said they used protective masks as they removed the man.

“There were no problems, it was strictly precautionary,” said Pipes, who along with two other ambulance crew members, the patient and a Hampden police officer was isolated at St. Joseph Hospital in Bangor until hospital officials could determine that the man had the flu and there was no threat of contamination. Pipes said they were taken to a special section of the hospital for about 90 minutes where he and the other members of the ambulance crew assisted the hospital staff with the patient.

A second ambulance had taken a woman from the Hampden postal plant and took her to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, where hospital officials determined that there was no need to isolate the patient, a hospital spokesman said.