At the request of the Public Health Agency of Canada, Carleton University is preparing itself to deal as best they can with an H1N1 outbreak, should one occur this school year.
Preventing and minimizing the spread of influenza are presently the top priorities of the Carleton University Pandemic Influenza Response Plan released Sept. 1.
“There’s a greater sensitivity to risk at a college campus – especially this time of year,” said Dave Sterritt, director of the department of housing and conference services at Carleton. “Frosh week consists of large groups of people getting together.”
In preparation, Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) included bottles of hand sanitizer in frosh kits and, along with Rideau River Residence Association (RRRA), will continue to work with the university to “help quell a possible outbreak,” said CUSA president Erik Halliwell.
“We’ll help with promotion – like washing hands, that sort of thing,” said Halliwell.
“There are some concerns about how to proceed and we’ll help where we can.”
Sterritt said that as early as two weeks ago residence students were advised through an e-mail sent to their Carleton Connect accounts to arrive on campus equipped with their own personal first aid kit that included items like a digital thermometer, liquid hand soap instead of bar soap, antiseptic wipes and a list of medications to combat fever, nausea and colds.
Sterritt also said public health representatives hosted a one-hour workshop during residence fellow training week to familiarize residence life staff with symptoms of influenza-like illnesses and encourage them to promote better personal habits on their floors.
“You’ve probably been bombarded with them already,” said Sterritt. “Wash your hands, keep a safe distance from people – social distancing already calls for one metre or more – don’t share water bottles, lipstick, cigarettes.”
Regardless of how obvious these habits might be, residence fellows still left the workshop with posters similar to the ones available on the websites for universities like McGill and Western. Many post-secondary institutions are expressing the same key message to their students and staff: be “pandemic prepared.”
According to Ed Kane, assistant vice-president (university services), Carleton’s
Dining Services will also be implementing some special measures in light of an outbreak.
“We normally have two to three weeks’ worth of inventory of food on campus and this will be doubled,” said Kane. “We have increased our cleaning in the various facilities [and] we are meeting with Algonquin College to explore partnering with them in case either institution needs support.”
The residence cafeteria will also be introducing dispensers for knives and forks that will dispense a single item at a time rather than have cutlery set out in bulk. Health services representatives were already around during move-in weekend to hand out bottles of hand sanitizer to residence students.
“Right now it’s really about education,” said Sterritt. “Students can do themselves a favour by trying to avoid it in the first place because if they get it, they won’t be feeling well for a while.”