For most students, a roommate with an illness is a minor inconvenience. However, many departments at Baker University are working together to help the institution prepare for a more serious possibility.
An all-campus and community symposium will be held at 7 p.m. Monday in Rice Auditorium entitled “Preparing for Pandemic Influenza: Making Your Checklist for Individuals and Families.”
“Many see such preparations as being alarmist, but when a pandemic hits, we don’t want to be underprepared,” Director of Student Health Services Ruth Sarna said.
The symposium’s featured speaker, Kim Ens, the disease control program coordinator for the Lawrence Douglas County Health Department, said self-awareness is important.
“We want people to find out about the avian flu, know what it is – that it is a virus and that there are things you can do to not get infected,” she said.
The symptoms of avian flu are respiratory, much like the seasonal flu, and include runny nose and muscle aches. However, the danger comes from the fact that the avian flu is a pandemic flu, and most people have no pre-exposure or pre-existing immunity, Sarna said.
“This strain is especially virulent. It will hit healthy, not just the chronically ill or elderly. People will become ill quite rapidly,” she said. “Our fear is that health services, physicians, clinics and hospitals will be overwhelmed.”
Director of Greek Life Bryan VanOsdale has been working with the Interfraternity Council and the Panhellenic Council to address the issues that might be specific to those groups.
“This situation is different from dormitory housing because the quarters are closer and students eat in the same facility where they live. “
To find out more about pandemic flu visit www.pandemicflu.gov.
Time – Date – Place7 p.m. Monday in Rice Auditorium