As the mother of a snow college student, I have been shocked at the lack of information on the tb cases. My daughter did not even hear about the girl with active tb until Thursday night. Her roommates went to get tested on Friday morning only to find that the health center was closed. Lack of information has only lead to a lot of speculation on the students part, and, as you with teenagers know, not all speculation is good and helpful. There are many worried kids in Ephraim and since it is cold and flu season, many of them that are sick are now paranoid that they have tb.

I happen to think that the college and health department are doing their best to take care of any students who might have been infected. The school issued a school-wide email and those who cared could get tested did. There probably doesn't seem to be a lot of information because those 77 students really don't want others to know until they can confirm yea or nay that they have TB. I happen to be one of those worried students and I understand why no one would give much information. I don't want my information to be let out. So all those worried and scared people out there please realize that we are all scared and this problem will get figured out soon enough.

I appreciate the privacy afforded to the former Snow student with active TB and to those whose tests results made them "suspect" this past week. I think of the fast work that needed to be done to spread the word that TB testing was available and why, and I commend those who made those decisions. I might have handled things differently, and so might have you, but fortunately, we didn't have to. I also appreciate the cooperation of the health department in the administering of the tests and the confidentiality afforded to those they are concerned with. If you still have concerns, please contact Snow College, or better yet, your local health department and direct your questions to them.

I know for a fact that Snow College is doing a poor job of handling the situation. No one, and I mean NO ONE was more at risk than my daughter. She lived in the same dorm apartment, shared the same bathroom and frequently shuttled the car-less foreign student around town in her car. Was my daughter personally contacted by the school to make sure she got tested? No. She found out on her own, through the grapevine like everyone else. Was she tested with special care because of her high risk? No again. They rushed her through the testing process and even told her she was negative. She forced them to re-evaluate it several hours later and – what do you know – Positive! What if she’d have taken their word for it? She’d be walking around the rest of her life carrying the virus. Pathetic!

This is a campus wide email that has been sent out.. if you want information please come to the meeting. More tesing is available today from 3-5 in the Student Center.

Everyone is invited to come to a campus forum to hear the GOOD NEWS about the progress of the tuberculous testing and learn more about TB in general. Representatives from the Health Department and College will be available to answer questions and share information.

Monday, January 28
5:30 p.m.
Founders Hall of the Noyes Building

Two other notes:
- An email with current, updated information will also be sent later today.
- If you are still interested in testing, please call 283-7010.

Thank you!

My son is a student at Snow who has other health conditions that make his immune system prone to illness. I just talked with him on the phone and he is feeling confused because of the lack of info. The E-mail he recieved about the GOOD News confused him more! He was unaware that further tests were being done today and many of his friends are just as confused. There are a lot of rumours and the students are having a difficult time knowing what is true and what is not. The most info he has gotten is from the news stations on the internet.

Anyone who is looking for more information can call 435-283-7154 and will get a prompt response. I called today about my daughter and heard back really quick. That helped me a lot!