University opens lines of communication about Swine Flu

Sebastian Fryer
Western Herald

As a new academic year begins, the threat of a pandemic hangs over Western Michigan University.

On Aug. 31, 2009, WMU administrators sent out an e-mail to students and families regarding the prevention of an outbreak of the H1N1 virus, commonly known as “swine flu.”  The e-mail included information on flu symptoms, avoiding the virus, and what to do if the disease has been contracted.

Timothy Greene, Ph.D., provost and vice president for academic affairs, Diane Anderson, Ph.D., vice president for student affairs and Dr. Lisa Marshall, M.D. at Sindecuse Health Center, who signed the e-mail, were not available for comment.

“We’ve been spending a lot of time over the past week communicating with our students and their families [and] with our faculty and staff to remind them of the very basic precautions to take to avoid the flu,” Cheryl Roland, executive director of university relations, said.

“Rarely do we begin an academic year with a message to every member of the university community about flu prevention,” Roland Said.

Preventative measures are being put into action across campus in the event of a H1N1 breakout.  These include the installation of hand sanitizers in public places like the dining halls and the Bernhard Center, information posted in the residence halls, and custodial crews increasing cleaning efforts in common areas such as computer labs, where flu transmission is more likely to occur.

“We’re also doing some contingency planning, [like] what to do if we have a lot of students living on campus who need an opportunity to be isolated,” Roland said.

The Pandemic Planning Committee was created for such an occurrence.

“[The PPC] has been in place for about three years now,” Roland said.  “That dates back to times when people were talking about avian flu and the possibility of that circulating worldwide.  SARS was another virus that people were concerned about at one point and because we had an emergency planning committee in place, we realized we needed a group of people who could specifically plan for what the campus could do in case of a pandemic.”

Despite the efforts being made around campus, seven cases of H1N1 have been confirmed through SHC since last as of June 18.  Cases have also occurred off-campus in Kalamazoo.  As of Sept. 3, the Center for Disease Control has reported 9,079 hospitalized cases of H1N1 and 593 deaths in the United States. Worldwide, the World Health Organization has reported over 254,206 cases and at least 2,837 deaths.

Many colleges have seen more cases of the flu; according to a recent Associated Press article, the University of Kansas recently reported nearly 200 students showing flu-like symptoms in a week.  Washington State University has reported that some 2,000 students have been showing symptoms of the flu just 10 days into the semester, according to its Web site.

“Our program is to prevent having such a tremendous number of people ill,” Pat Holton, director of Environmental Safety and Emergency Management, said.  She also referenced the use of communication of information of the flu and its symptoms as a way of combating outbreak.

Those showing flu-like symptoms have been asked to isolate themselves and visit a doctor in the possibility that they have contracted swine flu.  For students, this may cause problems with classroom attendance.

“The Provost’s Office and the Academic Affairs division of the university have asked all faculty [members] to be flexible – they’ve been asked not to ask for a doctor’s note, for instance,” Roland said. “We want them to stay home and not spread the disease.”

“My biggest tip for students is really to familiarize themselves with the information up on the flu information page and to keep checking that every once in a while just as things develop, just to check that page and see if there’s new information there, something they might not have noticed the first time they looked at it,” Roland added.

News, updates, and information about the H1N1 virus on campus may be found online at www.wmich.edu/flu. To view the full mass e-mail distributed by the university to students visit westernherald.com. Check westernherald.com for up-to-the-minute reports.

Short URL: http://www.westernherald.com/?p=7565

Posted by HeraldAdmin on Sep 7 2009. Filed under Campus, Local, Nation, News, World. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

Cody Kimball
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