BLOOMINGTON -- Visit hospitalized patients at BroMenn Regional Medical Center in Normal and OSF St. Joseph Medical Center in Bloomington only if your visit is necessary for the patients' emotional well-being.

The hospitals' latest effort to reduce the spread of the novel H1N1 influenza was a joint decision Monday to ask potential visitors to consider whether they should be in a hospital, where patients' health already is compromised. But BroMenn and St. Joseph did not go as far as some other Central Illinois hospitals, which have issued temporary restrictions of visits by children.

"We're asking people to use common sense," said Pam Bierbaum, BroMenn infection preventionist. "If you're sick -- whether you're an adult or a child -- we don't want you to visit.

"We won't be stopping people at the door," she said. "But if a staff member sees that you're ill, they're going to dialogue with you."

Bierbaum and Monica McDonald, St. Joseph's infection preventionist, talk with each other daily and decided against an age restriction. Instead, they are asking anyone who is sick to stay home and for everyone to reconsider whether they should go to a hospital when there are an increasing number of people with H1N1 communitywide.

"We are definitely seeing an increase in people with influenza-like illness, including H1N1," Bierbaum said. The increase in numbers is at doctors' offices, urgent care centers, in hospital emergency departments and among hospital patients, she said.

But BroMenn and St. Joseph decided against an age restriction because "maybe that 10-year-old is the most important visitor for a patient's well-being," Bierbaum said.

Individuals who must visit are asked to wash their hands, avoid touching surfaces and obey hospital precautions. Other people are asked instead to send a card, make a phone call or order flowers.

Anyone with flu symptoms -- runny nose or congestion, sore throat, cough, fever, fatigue, body aches, chills and perhaps diarrhea and vomiting -- should contact their doctor. People with flu symptoms need to stay home and should re-contact their doctor if they have trouble breathing or if their symptoms worsen, Bierbaum said.

Peoria-area hospitals, St. Mary's in Streator and Gibson Area Hospital are among Central Illinois medical centers limiting visits by children.

A 56-year-old woman -- with underlying medical conditions -- became McLean County's first H1N1 fatality late last week.

The McLean County Health Department has 22 confirmed cases of H1N1. Health officials have said that many more people have the flu strain but haven't had the confirming test because they haven't been hospitalized.