Pandemic Plan
Instructions for the College Community in Coping with H1N1
As of September 8th 2009 BC has identified the first H1N1 case within the education system and others are following. It is important that we as a College Community recognize that H1N1 is a serious issue and it should be treated as such. Therefore Northern Lights COllege (NLC) is asking everyone to do their part in helping prevent the spread of infection and help to minimize the effects that H1N1 will have on our campuses and the services NLC provides. Please consider the following when going about your everyday business:
- Awareness is most important. Faculty, Residence Managers and Program Support staff must know that they play an important role in our efforts to minimize the spread of flu on campus. We're not asking you to become medical experts or care providers, but we do need your help. Please remind students to:
- Let their instructor(s) know if they are absent because of illness. If they are diagnosed with H1N1 they must let their instructor know and in turn the instructor must advise the Campus Administrator. It is important that the Health and Safety Advisor be made aware of all suspected cases of H1N1 as NLC will most likely need to report to the Ministry of Advanced Education on any suspected cases. Residence Managers should follow up with Campus Administrators regarding students displaying influenza like illness (ILI) symptoms to ensure there are no disconnects.
- Instructors should advise students to follow the same guidelines issued by the BC Public Health Officer to ensure they are free of flu like symptoms for at least 24 hours without the aid of medication prior to returning to class.
- Practice good hygiene, cough into their sleeve or forearm, use disposable tissues to catch coughs or sneezes, wash hands often and make use of the erected hand sanitizers.
- Make efforts to avoid personal and public contact with others (shaking hands, kissing and hugging)
- Direct students to the Safety section of the NLC website – http://www.nlc.bc.ca/safety/ there will be news posted frequently regarding the H1N1 issue.
- Public health guidelines advise those who are sick with H1N1 (or suspected H1N1) to NOT to go to their doctor, health clinic, or hospital for the first seven calendar days unless they are too ill to recover at home. Family members are also advised to stay at home.
- Everyone should make every effort to review the Pandemic Preparedness Plan - http://www.nlc.bc.ca/safety/pandemicplanning.html and the Exposure Control Plan http://www.nlc.bc.ca/safety/exposurecontrolplan.html which are part of NLC’s Emergency Preparedness strategy. All staff play an important role in ensuring we as a college will continue to function in the event that H1N1 spreads to a critical level.
- It is important to emphasize - Those who have influenza symptoms should stay home and not return to work or school until 24 hours have passed with no fever (without the use of fever reducing medications). Symptoms include some or all of the following:
- Fever and chills
- Headache and body aches
- Fatigue
- Dry Cough and Sore throat
- Runny or stuffy nose
- Diarrhea and vomiting has been reported in some cases of H1N1
- When a staff person contacts their supervisor to inform them they are ill it is important that the staff member acknowledge they are experiencing ILI symptoms and that is why they are absent from work. This will provide the supervisor the opportunity to prepare and plan accordingly and in turn the information can be relayed to Health and Safety of a possible H1N1 case.
The Health and Safety Advisor would like to thank everyone in advance for their cooperation in this process. If we all act together we can minimize the risk and continue business throughout the latest pandemic wave, which incidentally is supposed to last 6-8 weeks in total. It is expected that there will be another towards late spring.
Additional Links:
Pandemic Planning - Normal Operations
Pandemic Plan - Closures Pending
Pandemic Plan - Facility Closure(s)
-- Created Nov. 2009 | Review Date June 2010 -----
