COVER THE EDGE NEWSPAPER. NOVEMBER B. 2006

NEWS

5

ls Norwalk at the Door?

HAAKON SULLIVAN
STAFF WRITER
On October 13, 2006 the Norwalk
virus was discovered in some students
at Mount Allison University in New
Brunswick. The illness was a big deal,
as people were reporting symptoms of
vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal pain;
all symptoms of the infamous Norwalk
virus. In fear of having it spread, the
university closed public buildings and
cancelled all classes and extracurricular
activities. The situation became even
more serious when more people
reported the symptoms, including the
people living in the nearby town of
Sackville, In the end, it is estimated
that three hundred students and staff
contracted the illness.

Three days later on October 16, a
number of students at St. Francis
Xavier University in Nova Scotia got
the same symptoms. They cancelled
sports activities, closed buildings and
put hand sanitizers around the campus
to prevent the spread of the illness but
kept the classes running. It is suspected
that the virus came to the campus from
people visiting nearby Mount Allison
University. In this instance, about fifty
students got the illness.

UNBC is no stranger to the Norwalk
menace.

In 2004, the campus daycare got a
shock when a child came in with the
symptoms of vomiting, diarrhea, and
abdominal pain. When the kid was
diagnosed with Norwalk illness, the
university responded immediately by
shutting down the facility, getting more
cleaning staff, and sanitizing the facility,
leaving no spot untouched, The damage
was at minimum levels.

“In the morning we heard of it, we were
there before lunch,” explained Peter
Hickey, Risk and Safety Manager of
UNBC.

‘Where does the Norwalk virus
originate from? Hickey says that the
Norwalk illness commonly starts in
schools in hospitals due to the amount
of people in one space. They come

A walkthrough of a UNBC outbreak

into contact with each other, touching
common objects; it's a higher exposure
area.”

The Norwalk virus causes a
gastrointestinal illness causing the
aforementioned symptoms of vomiting,
diarrhea, abdominal cramps, headache
and fever. On contraction of the virus,
symptoms do not appear until after ten
to sixty hours and the illness can last
from two days to several weeks. It is
known for being able to spread quickly
and is transmitted by fecal matter on
the hands as well as improperly handled
food.

A Norwalk outbreak at UNBC is not
as impossible as you might think, The
Norwalk virus originates from people
not having proper hygiene rituals. All it
may take is a careless action of someone
not washing their hands after he/she
goes to the bathroom to set the ball
rolling. You even may have seen the
signs around the washrooms on campus
asking you to wash your hands,

‘A simple cleaner will take care of it,
that's the nice thing about it,’ Hickey
said in response a question about
prevention. “The prime directive of
preventing it is washing your hands, It's
that easy.”

If an outbreak does occur, the Manager
of Safety (Hickey) must notify the
Vice President of Administration and
Finance (Sharon Cochran) about the
outbreak and ask for permission for a
certain action to be taken.“ We would
then start sanitizing the area and
getting extra janitorial staff. Depending
if we can pinpoint the area that it came
from.,..we would then start paying
particular attention to that area and
start fanning out...forty eight hours
without another outbreak than you
know you got it.’

‘This tactic is very similar to what they
did at St. Francis Xavier and Mount
Allison Universities, both if which had
their outbreaks contained within a
couple days.

At UNBC Dr. Lorna Medd, Chief
Medical Officer of the Northern
Health Unit would also be contacted.

She could then assess the situation and

advise whatever measures would be
necessary for the containment of the
illness in question.

The area that would be hit hardest

by the outbreak at our campus would
be the residences. With the shared
washrooms, common rooms, and high
contact with other people, an outbreak
will spread more quickly than usual.
This is what happened in the Mount _
Allison outbreak.

When asked whether or not classes
and extracurricular activities would be
shut down in the event of an outbreak,
Hickey said that would be a definite
result,

“We have an emergency planning group
here, and what we would do is bring

it to their attention...and, depending
on the issue, from the President down
they would say go and we would start
putting things into place:’

As to preventing an outbreak due to
food mismanagement, it’s all in the
hands of Chartwells. Sharon Cochran,
VP of Administration and Finance is
in charge of managing over Chartwells
and if the food was the point of origin
for the Norwalk, the response team will
deal with it no differently than with the
above situation. “They do have safe food
handling procedures but it can happen.
I can be at the salad bar and I can get
Norwalk into it.’

We may be well prepared for a Norwalk
outbreak, but the chance of this

happening to UNBC solely depends on

the coopetation of students and faculty
hand washing after every time they go
to the washroom. With that said,wash
your hands. Look at the damage done
to St. Francis Xavier and Mount
Allison Universities because of a lack of
hand washing. The university itself can
do nothing to prevent this illness so the
fate of your peet's or coworker's health
is in your hands,

“You can't put the wall up to stop it, as
it can get around it. You can only deal
with it when it happens,’ said Hickey,

Building Fee Increase Passed

for Student Centre:
Students Expect to Move in January 2008

CAMERON ORR
NEWS EDITOR

Students were able to vote on the
upcoming Northern Undergraduate
Student Centre building fee increase,
October 25, 26, and 27 were voting days
for the student body and their chance to
state their opinion on the fee hike. The
fee would increase the student building
fee from $15 to $30, a $15 increase per
semester,

The results came up quickly and the
building fee increase passed by a whop-
ping majority. 87.4% of voters supported
the fee while 12.6% of people were not
in favour. Overall there were 405 votes,
making the participation rate 14%.

Nick Nagy, Vice President of Exter-
nal Affairs of NUGSS is quite pleased
with the results, “The turnout was good.
Fairly average of what we expected from
past votes,’ Nagy adds, “We're happy to
see it go through’,

In past referendums in order for a vote
to pass there had to be a 2/3 majority
in favour of the issue,.as per the UNBC
Act. Since the UNBC Act has since

been repealed, there needs to only be a
basic majority vote.

The last NUSC referendum passed
with a 53%, but was not enough under
the UNBC act.

April Williams, General Manager at
NUGSS, says they take very seriously
the concerns of students, “If it barely
passed wed reanalyze what students
want” Williams says.

Williams also wishes for a higher stu-
dent turnout, “The last time we had a
referendum there was a student turriout
of about 700. We would have liked to
have seen more.’

Despite the lower student turnout
everyone is pleased that the fee inctease
passed. No one at NUGSS could com-
plain at a vote of 87.4% in favour.

The previous referendum would have
seen the building fee increase to $50
dollars.

Students should expect to be able to
begin enjoying the Student Centre dur-
ing January of 2008, approximately one

year from now,

Crisis Prevention Training

ANNA GRADOWSKA
STAFF WRITER

On November 17-19, the Crisis Pre-
vention, Intervention & Information
Centre for Northern BC will be holding
a training session for new volunteers for
their 24 hour hotline.

This non-profit organization, open
since 1970, provides confidential and
anonymous peer-counselling and infor-
mation. They have prided themselves in
being source of emergency support of
people in crisis as well as a great place
to access more extensive community
support such as social services, support
groups, and emergency services. The
centre receives about 10,000 calls a year,
30% of which are from people in real
crisis.

Since the service is volunteer based,
the Crisis Centre provides volunteer
training 3 or 4 times a year. The in-
tensive 50-60 hour training, held over
one weekend, teaches you how to help
people help themselves. The training

entails the basic theory behind inter-
vention as well as how to communicate
with someone who is in need of dire
help. Not all the calls are emergencies,
but many are people who are searching
for more information in order to help in
their life problems. Many other work-
shops are available to those who become
volunteers, including mental health, loss,
and suicide awareness and prevention,

The volunteer position is a great
asset if you are starting a career in so-
cial services or psychology, or even just
for someone looking to give back to the
community, The centre has an applica-
tion process, so if you are interested
in joining the volunteers of the Crisis
Prevention Centre, you can apply at the
Centre at 1306-7th Avenue.

The 24 hour crisis line is totally con-
fidential, anonymous, and non-judge-
mental. Anyone is welcome to call
1-888-562-1214 (Northern BC) for
someone to talk to or for information
on services,

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