H1N1 and Flu Update

The following email was sent out by Dr. Barber to the students and staff today. The two attachments she references can be found on http://babylon.ncssm.edu/ Please let me know if you have any questions regarding this topic.

Dear NCSSM Students, Faculty, Staff and Parents:

One thing you can say about the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics is that we are tough. We are still having incidents of Influenza Like Illness (ILI), but Thursday was the first day for several weeks where no student with ILI was sent home by the clinic and the number of students at home today for ILI has been reduced to12. Although we are weathering the storm, we have a long ways to go, so don’t forget to wash those hands.

Thanks so much to our students! I know many of you didn’t want to go to the Health Clinic because you were afraid to be sent home and maybe fall behind in your classes. However, you did it with very few complaints which is probably the reason the ILI spread was reduced in our community. For those students who are still making up work, please let your teachers, counselors, advisors, student life instructors, work service supervisors, Dr. Warshaw, Mr. Clayton, Dr. Boarman or myself know if you need any support/help. We are all here for you.

Faculty and staff, don’t forget we can get the ILI also, so take care of yourself and self isolate, if necessary.

There have been many questions about when we are going to give the seasonal flu and H1N1 vaccines. We plan to give them both in our NCSSM Health Clinic. Thanks so much to the NCSSM Pandemic Preparedness Team. Due to their efforts we will have the new recommended temperature control refrigerator in the clinic to house the large volume of vaccines we are expecting to receive. Thanks also to Dr. Starnes, our Medical Director, and her team who are ready to administer the vaccines when they are received.

This is the plan:

· Seasonal Flu Vaccine – As I told you in my last update, the seasonal flu vaccines have been ordered. When we checked again last week, Moore Medical told us the good news - we are on schedule to receive the vaccines in October but they could not tell us a specific day. So, we are going to be prepared when the vaccines are received. When we placed the order back in the summer, we ordered enough for those parents who had paid, but we also ordered extra. Therefore, if there are parents who are interested in their child receiving the seasonal flu vaccine on campus and haven’t paid, please contact Lorna Lester at 919-416-2800 or lesterl@ncssm.edu and she will send you the necessary.

· Free H1N1 Vaccine for all Students and Staff – As you know the H1N1 vaccine is free. We are definitely on the list to receive the vaccine, hopefully in October, and administer it in the NCSSM Health Clinic to both students and staff. We are following all of the requirements sent from CDC and the State and Durham Health Departments.

Parents must first read the attached “WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW” form. Second, print, complete, sign and date the attached consent form for your child. The parent has the choice to give consent or not give consent. The consent form can either be mailed back to Laura Ramsey, NCSSM Clinic, Durham, NC 27715 or the parent or student can give the form directly to Sabrina Fuller at the Bryan SLI Office. Parents can find the same consent form in three different places - 1) attached to this e-mail; 2) on at-a-glance; or 3) with your child. A hard copy will be given to each student for them to take home over the October 16, 2009 extended weekend. This way the parent could fill it out and send it back by their child. With this many options, it is with great hope that any confusion about not receiving the H1N1 consent form will be significantly minimized.

Staff should send an e-mail to Connie Boyce, Director of Human Resources or Harry Tucker, Director of Campus Resources, if they plan to take advantage of the H1N1 vaccine here on campus.

Please visit the CDC’s 2009 H1N1 influenza web site at http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/ and also http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/parents for more information, especially for parents.

All of the UNC system schools have to report weekly to UNC –General Administration their incidents of ILI. These are the numbers NCSSM has reported - First week – 0 students; second week - 3 students; third week – 11 students; fourth week – 33 students; fifth week – 35 students; sixth week – 29 students.

Again, thanks to everyone for your support in accepting the ILI challenge. Please let me know if you have any questions.