Health Services prepares for upcoming flu season
As the flu season approaches, the GC&SU Student Health Services Department is preparing to supply influenza vaccines to its faculty, staff and students for the first time.
Alice Loper, director of Student Health Services, said that last year during flu season, an estimated five out of every 200 people that visited Student Health Services in a given week had the flu.
“Last year, the Health Department was not able to give out shots on campus because of the shortage of vaccines,” Loper said.
For the past three years, the Baldwin County Health Department has been responsible for administering flu vaccines on campus, said Loper.
Loper said that in 2003, the Health Department visited the campus and administered around 200 shots. This year, Student Health Services has ordered between 300 and 400 vaccines to be made available to faculty, staff and students. The vaccine will cost $20 and can be paid by cash or check.
The vaccines will be administered in the conference room of the Parks Memorial Nursing Building on the corner of Montgomery and Wilkinson Streets. The schedule for administering the vaccines is currently being planned. The vaccines will not be available until late October or early November.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Web site, “The single best way to prevent the flu is to get vaccinated each fall, but good health habits and antiviral medications are other measures that can help protect against the flu.”
Loper said that although healthy students are considered at low risk for severe illness, students who reside in residence halls are being encouraged to receive the vaccine to minimize the spread of the virus.
In addition to the vaccine, Loper encourages the GC&SU community to slow the spread of disease by avoiding close contact with people who are sick, staying home from work, school and errands when ill, washing hands often, covering mouth and nose with a tissue when coughing or sneezing and avoiding touching eyes, nose or mouth.
Many students, like Bobcat Village resident Jillian Jackson, have not received flu vaccines in the past.
“I didn’t get a flu shot last year because I thought there was a shortage of it, and I’ve never had the flu before, so I figured I don’t need one,” Jackson said.
Influenza is a serious respiratory disease that can lead to pneumonia. According to the CDC Web site, each year about 200,000 people in the United States are hospitalized and about 36,000 people die because of the flu. Most who die are 65 years of age and older, but small children less than 2 years old are as likely as those over 65 to have to go to the hospital because of the flu.
According to a 2003 CDC report, the seventh leading cause of death in the United States was influenza and pneumonia. That year, a total of 64,847 people died due to influenza and pneumonia and 216 of those people were between 15 and 24 years old.
Symptoms of the flu include fever, headache, extreme fatigue, dry cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose and muscle aches. Additional gastrointestinal symptoms, such as nausea, vomiting and diarrhea can be found in children but are uncommon in adults.
Further information about the flu vaccines will be posted on the Student Health Services Web site and sent out through Bobcat E-mail. For more information, please call Student Health Services at (478) 445-5288.
Posted by Colonnade Archives
on Oct 21 2005. Filed under News.
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