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Six Years of Flu-Like Diagnoses at Watkins
Gracie Williams/Kansan
Despite decline in flu cases, students can still act to remain healthy this winter
▶ NASHIA BAKER
@nashia_baker
Watkins Health Center reported 283 flu cases over each of the last two years. But the current academic year is on track to have less than half that number, recording 77 cases in the first six months.
Although historically the flu season intensifies in the second semester, the significant decrease in cases so far this year follows a national trend, according to
"This year was kind of unusual in that we had no influenza in November or December, at least not in Watkins. Even nationwide, the flu didn't hit until probably a week ago," Saripalli said. "We have not seen it become an outbreak like it normally would be at this time of the year."
Dr. Pavika Saripalli; a physician at Watkins.
Although there has been a decrease in the number of cases so far, the flu virus is always circulating. Saripalli
said. When the weather is cooler and students gather indoors, the virus spreads quicker. On college campuses, flu spreads quickly among those living in close quarters, including places such as residence halls and apartments.
you touch with your hands is where you want to focus your efforts on cleaning."
"If you're the healthy one, the best thing you can do is just get hand sanitizer and hand sanitizer wipes and wipe down your computer, perhaps your drawer handles, door knobs," Saripalli said. "Anything that
Watkins Health Services provides flu vaccines to help combat the flu. Watkins has provided a total of 2,824 vaccines to the KU community over the course of the academic year, and 1,858 of these were given to students specifically, according to Dr. Douglas Dechairo, director and chief of staff of Watkins.
Saripalli said that the typical conditions of college
living mean an increased need for everyone to take precautions.
"We've kind of pushed the flu shot here because every year when you look at statistics of where in the country the flu was the biggest problem, college campuses across the whole country are overrepresented just because people are clustered together," Saripalli said. "So even if you choose not to ever be vaccinated in the rest of your life, when you're here on a college
Even with the decrease in flu cases, Saripalli said, students should still take action if they start to feel sick
campus, for the sake of the whole campus, it's nice."
"They should get Tylenol or ibuprofen because they'll feel a lot better and they won't dehydrate as badly. They should drink lots of fluids. They should sleep as much as possible," she said.
- Edited by Matthew Clough
Public and private education rallies compete at Capitol
MIRANDA DAVIS @MirandaDavis
TOPEKA - Two opposing groups, one supporting school choice and one supporting public schools, rallied at the Capitol Thursday afternoon.
About 100 school choice advocates and private school students gathered in the rotunda for their third annual rally in support of
Both groups cheered and chanted over each other during the rallies, the school choice advocates chanting, "My voice, school choice."
school choice and privatizing education. The rally was organized as a part of National School Choice Week, which began Jan. 24.
At the same time, advocates from Move On Johnson County, a pro-public school organization, spoke about the benefits of public education and the concerns with privatizing education in Kansas. Approximately 50 people attended the Move On rally.
The conversation at both rallies centered on the Tax Credit Scholarship Fund, a one-year-old law that allows corporations to
make donations for scholarships at private schools in exchange for a tax credit, equal to 70 percent of that contribution.
Al Frisby, a member of Move On and a retired biology teacher at Shawnee Mission Northwest High School, said the public school rally was organized in response to the school choice rally. He and other public school advocates at the rally had concerns about public funding going to private schools.
"There's no transparency with these private schools," Frisby said. "They
Corliss Jacobs, a retired English teacher at Shawnee Mission West High School, spoke at the public school rally and said private schools aren't necessarily bad; they just shouldn't get public tax dollars.
"I always think choice is wonderful; I'm definitely into choice," Jacobs said. "But I know from experience as a public school teacher that there can be all kinds of choice within a public school structure."
don't have oversight by the school board."
Jacobs said she was concerned with what would
happen if privatized education were to expand in Kansas.
"Tax money should only support schools that are for everyone," Jacobs said.
The school choice group had seven speakers, including several private school educators.
"If we want school choice, we have to want it the right way," said Becky Elder, principal at Northfield School, a private school in Wichita. "We have to want it through innovation, through hard work and through severe cutting of cost. We've got to make
a way to do this that is different."
David Dorsey, a former public educator and current analyst with the Kansas Policy Institute, said he believes he can do more for students in advocating for school choice than he could in the classroom.
"Well, I just believe any time you offer people choice, it's going to lead to better outcomes for everyone," Dorsey said.
- Edited by Deanna Ambrose
Kansas House meeting focuses on mental health hospital staffing despite concern about treatment programs
▶ MIRANDA DAVIS
@mirandadavis
TOPEKA The House Social Services Budget committee hearing Tuesday centered on staff hiring and retention in the state's mental health hospitals despite concern over individualized treatment plans for residents in the sex offenders program at Larned State Hospital in Larned.
The state hospitals have come under fire in recent months after a worker was sexually assaulted at the Osawatomie hospital in October 2015. The incident led to an audit of the hospitals, and in December the Osawatomie hospital lost its federal funding after losing its Medicaid certification.
Tim Keck, secretary of the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services, provided an update on the audit of the Larned Hospital. There were three areas the audit wanted the hospital to focus on: realigning the program with research-based methods, addressing issues related to management and addressing population growth.
Richard D. Cagan, executive director of the Kansas chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, said he hoped the committee would discuss more than the staffing concerns Specifically, he wanted committee members to discuss whether those in the treatment program were truly getting more individualized care and the opportunity to move through different levels so they can eventually be reintegrated into their communities.
However, the main concern voiced at the committee meeting was staffing. Currently, the nursing staff has a 38 percent vacancy at Larned Hospital. Keck said KDADS is working with the hospitals to hire as soon as possible but didn't offer a solution to what he said was a multifaceted problem.
"This is supposed to be a treatment, a rehabilitative program," Cagan said. "It's not a prison."
"I don't want to say money's not the issue, because people always want to get paid more and nurses and doctors
and those kinds of people deserved to get paid more," Keck said. "But I think it's a little more complex than that. It's the lack of people available in the workforce, it's the location, I suppose of the hospitals to some extent, it's the local attitudes that exist in both of those communities."
Cagan acknowledged the staffing issue has several causes but also said that geography is a factor in Larned's case, citing an absence of qualified workers in the area.
Keck did not ask the committee for any financial help or adjustments from the state. He said KDADS is doing more research and continuing to meet with hospital staff to determine what changes need to happen. He said he wants to make sure he's asking for the right things when he eventually asks for additional funding from lawmakers.
"We need to take the time to make sure we get all of the problems and all of the issues addressed," Keck said.
Edited by Skylar
CHRIS NEAL/THE TOPEKA CAPITAL-JOURNAL/AP Tim Keck, Kansas Department of Aging and Disability Services secretary, answers questions Thursday, Jan. 21, from lawmakers as they express frustration over the Osawatomie State Hospital's Medicare de-certification. The meeting was held at the Kansas Statehouse in Topeka.