Amanda Braund didn’t think too much of it when she got a nosebleed shortly after moving into residence. Two days later, the Lennox and Addington resident got another one that took over an hour to stop. But when she got one more two days after that and found herself in the hospital, Braund started to rethink.
“It was just brutal,” said the first-year journalism student. “I ran out of Kleenex so fast. I was running around my floor getting Kleenex from everyone on my floor and it was just to the point where I had to call the Carleton University Student Emergency Response Team (CUSERT).”
Having just moved into the unfinished residence just over two weeks ago, Braund said the consensus is that the dust, dry air and excessive heat due to construction is the cause.
“I asked [CUSERT] if they thought it was from the construction . . . they said yes that it’s a very good possibility,” she said.
She said the issues are not isolated.
“There’s actually been a lot of people in our building that have had nosebleeds so I don’t really think it’s just a coincidence.”
Fellow resident Jessica McLaughlin said her first week in Lennox and Addington was almost unbearable.
“When we first moved in it was like 30 degrees [in our room] when everyone else’s room was like 21 degrees,” she said.
Problems with the air conditioning have since been resolved, according to Dave Sterritt, director of housing and conference services.
“When the building was opened, the air conditioning was not working,” Sterritt said. “The situation has now been addressed . . . and the building cooling is now coming down to more acceptable levels.”
Even so, students’ lists of complaints are mounting. A Facebook note, “Reasons we hate our res,” has been updated for the past week.
The complaints range from poor air quality to wires hanging from the ceiling to weird-tasting water to the location of rooms above the boiler room.
After her third nosebleed landed her in the hospital, where doctors cauterized her nose to stop the bleeding, Braund said she’s actively trying to switch to a different residence.
“I was in Dundas [House] for a couple nights because it was too hot,” she said, adding that when she returned to Lennox and Addington she noticed a difference in the air. “It just didn’t feel right so it kind of made me wonder if the air’s not good.”
Sterritt said the dust in the new building is “a given.”
“At the moment, we haven’t heard anything about air quality but I’ve asked the building project manager to consider the possibility of conducting some air quality samples,” he said. “Whether or not those things contribute to nosebleeds, I’m not the doctor, I don’t know.”
In the short term, dry air, dust and unusual heat aren’t likely to be a big health concern, said Patty Allen, health educator and nurse with health and counselling services.
“I don’t think it’s an issue,” she said. “But I’m not there.”
As for the ongoing construction, Sterritt said he’s aware it can be a nuisance.
“I know that the construction and the noise associated with the construction continues to irritate people. It’s something we all knew and tried our best to communicate to people,” he said.
However, Braund said she was informed the building was unfinished in August when she learned it was the residence she had been assigned to and she didn’t feel “well-prepared.”
For now, she said she will continue to live in the residence, but she said she no longer thinks it’s worth the money students saved due to the ongoing construction.
“I honestly don’t think it’s even worth it,” she said. “It’s been that bad.”
UPDATE: An air quality technician will conduct air quality sampling in the Lennox and Addington residence between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Sept. 23, according to an email sent to residents by the department of housing and conference services. Sampling will occur in randomly selected bedrooms and common corridors, the email stated.
– with files from Marina von Stackelberg
