KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) - As many of you continue to try and keep your families safe from the H1N1 virus, health care workers continue to try and stay healthy as well.

Thousands of health care workers have already been vaccinated, but several more continue to wait for more shipments of the vaccine. In the meantime, what steps are they taking, so they can care for you and your family?

Hospitals across the country, and here in East Tennessee have been vaccinating their staff. While they continue the process, several steps are being taken to keep health care workers healthy so they can take care of your family.

"Now more so than ever, we are making sure visitors do strict hand washing, making sure visitors that are sick or have a fever stay away from some patients. We're discouraging some visitors that may be sick," says Seth Linkous with Children's Hospital.

At Children's Hospital, there are separate areas for children who are injured and those who are sick. The hospital has strict infection control policies and have been following CDC guidelines.

There were three employees out with flu-like symptoms on Thursday. Since August, there have been 120 employees out with flu-like symptoms and at the peak, there were 20 employees out in late September.

"Our employee health department, continually monitors if we get a cluster in any one unit and then we can maneuver staff to accommodate needs," says Linkous.

About 1,000 H1N1 vaccines have been given out to staff members at UT Medical Center. They are expecting about 700 H1N1 injectable vaccines sometime Thursday.

"By the time it's all said and done we anticipate anybody who wants the vaccine should be able to get it," says Debbie Barton with UT Medical Center.

UT also has an emergency preparedness plan in place that would prioritize staff, decide shifts and locate and treat patients.

"We're prepared for any kind of emergency, anytime. That's part of our responsibility to the community," says Barton.

If you or someone in your family has flu-like symptoms and you can control the fever with over the counter medications, stay home. See your doctor if you or your child develops respiratory issues or becomes dehydrated.