Guest Feature: Preparing for H1NI

By Bethany Knight

The beginning of the school year always brings a flood of activity for ONU Health Service. Usually, we find ourselves answering questions about the medical care we provide, how we can help the students with particular medical conditions or where to turn in health forms.

This year, however, we are spending a lot of our time and energy answering a different type of question.


“How is Olivet preparing for the H1N1 influenza?”

This question is coming from students and parents alike. Thankfully, I have an answer for them.


For the past eighteen months or so, long before "swine flu" became a household phrase, we have been working on a plan for Olivet in case of an influenza pandemic. The Pandemic Preparedness Team, consisting of approximately 10 people, has gathered periodically to discuss the possibilities and the probabilities of having a new strain of influenza on campus, and what a situation like that might look like.

For the present moment, the H1N1 influenza or “swine flu” does not appear to have a higher mortality rate than the regular seasonal influenza. However, because we have no previous immunity to this influenza, it is difficult to tell if it will stay that way. Currently people ages 19 to 24 seem to have the worst cases of the H1N1 influenza.

This fall, our plan includes a “media blitz” with information going out to students, staff and faculty through every communication outlet available on campus. We will be educating the Olivet community about how to stay well, such as washing hands the right way, covering coughs and staying home if symptoms arise. We will also include symptoms of the H1N1 influenza and instructions on what should be done if these symptoms occur.

Our office is evaluating the vaccine status, and we will attempt to assist students in getting this vaccine. We will be creating a plan of care with our school physician for students who do present with symptoms.

In addition to asking everyone to wash their hands, cover their coughs and stay home if they are sick, we are also encouraging people to not claim that they have the “swine flu” unless they have been tested and treated. We would like to prevent any unnecessary panic.

Is it possible that a student will contract the H1N1 virus while on campus this year? Yes. But Health Service, Olivet and the Pandemic Preparedness Team have been preparing for this for a long time.

Bethany Knight ’97 is a registered nurse in Olivet Nazarene University’s Office of Health Service and currently serves as the leader of ONU’s Pandemic Preparedness Team.


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Editor’s Note: Olivet Nazarene University has an emergency Web site, http://www.olivetemergency.blogspot.com/, designed for communicating critical information in the event of a medical emergency, natural disaster, or any other extreme situation that demands a heightened level of concern. In such a situation, this site would be prominently linked from the home page of http://www.olivet.edu/.