Fears of illness spurring changes in public interactions across Valley

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JERREY ROBERTS

Greg Kochan, a maintenance foreman for Northampton schools, installs a hand-sanitizer dispenser at Northampton High School. In all, 130 dispensers are being installed in city buildings to help stave off flu viruses.

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AP PHOTO

A nurse fills a syringe with the H1N1 vaccine at the Northwest Children's Practice in Chicago in October. Locally, vaccines are being administered to people in priority groups for immunization.

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AP PHOTO

A sample of suspected swine flu is displayed by a technician at the Washington State Public Health Laboratories last spring.

It's far too early to write the history of the swine flu in the Valley, but already, concerns about the new strain are bringing changes in public behaviors in the region. In this space today, Gazette contributing writers Dylan Klempner and Mareva Lindo look at a few of them.

UMass loosens rules on attendance, doctors' notes

In a mid-semester memo to students and families, the University of Massachusetts issued an appeal - in what it called a "challenging flu season" - for people to stay home if they get sick. "We are urging students to take care of themselves and to protect other members of the campus community," it read.

Meantime, the school's provost is making it easier to be sick and stay up on course work. The official is asking faculty members to adapt attendance policies to help sick students.

And there's more: "The provost has also informed faculty members that they should not require students to provide a note from a health care provider explaining absence from class or confirming recovery. Students should, however, let instructors know why they are missing class."

Once free of fever, the memo says, faculty and academic department leaders will help students get caught up on work they missed.

On campus, many signs of flu's times

Posters going up throughout the University of Massachusetts campus ask people to wash their hands often - and to cough into their elbows.

Hand-sanitizing stations have been installed throughout the Amherst campus, including in dining halls next to salad bars.

UMass spokesman Patrick Callahan also says the university is updating its Web site regularly with new information about the flu.

Communion continues, but now optional

While parishioners in Catholic churches overseen by the Springfield diocese are encouraged to take communion, they are being advised that, given the flu, it "is not a necessity," according to Mark Dupont, the spokesman for the diocese. Offices throughout the region have been notified by Bishop Timothy A. McDonnell to use caution against the flu contagion, he said.

Parishioners are asked to use care when receiving communion and are being reminded that receiving in the hand is the preferred method. All Catholics who are not feeling well can "excuse themselves from Sunday worship out of respect for their fellow worshipers."

Meantime, those who minister to others directly have been encouraged to wash their hands frequently and to avoid contact with others if they are not feeling well themselves.

School lunch items, menus get new look

Because of the risk of spreading disease, some school lunch items are getting a cover-up. Foods like apples, carrot sticks and breadsticks that may be handled by many students are being covered in plastic to reduce the likelihood of contamination, says Rebecca Trietley, spokeswoman for the dining facilities of the Amherst Pelham Regional School District.

The district has also created abbreviated school lunch menus that can be served to students in case too many kitchen staff members are absent (due to their own illnesses) and those left are unable to prepare a regular menu.

Trietley said her department has established new routines to safeguard students and staff from the flu. For instance, posters remind staff who handle food to wash their hands and cough into their elbows. They are asked to wear gloves. And it has been recommended that they get flu shots.

Handshakes, fist-bumps go optional on the field

Though the fall season is winding down for many of the area's athletic teams, Karen Keogh-Huff, the athletic director in Amherst, said her office has been taking precautions in response to the flu.

Keogh-Huff has instructed coaches to make game-time handshakes optional for athletes. "Coaches can use it at their discretion," she said.

The district also has a "no school, no play" policy. When a school cancels classes on a particular game day, their athletic teams will not meet rival schools on the playing field.

Holed up until health returns at Hampshire

At Hampshire College in Amherst, students who come down with the flu are asked to retreat to their rooms - or go home, if home is relatively nearby. The college's dining services is on tap to deliver food to isolated, shut-in students suffering flu's effects.

Cooley Dickinson changes visitor policy

To combat flu, area hospitals have changed in their visitation policies. At Northampton's Cooley Dickinson Hospital, no children under the age of 18 will be allowed to visit patients for the time being.

On top of that, the hospital is now asking that no one who is sick visit a patient. Further, visitors should be limited to those whose presence is truly needed for the patient's comfort.

Baystate Health Systems also changed its visitor policy. It is not allowing visitors under age 13 and is recommending that no more than two visitors at a time visit a patient.

Baystate's rules apply to its medical center in Springfield, Baystate Mary Lane Hospital in Ware and Baystate Franklin Medical Center in Greenfield.

Making friends through the flu

The University of Massachusetts is asking students with the flu to stay in their rooms for at least 24 hours after their fevers break. The university has also set up a "flu buddy system," in which unwell students can get help from other students. "Flu buddies" bring their fellow students food and regularly check in on their condition.