Staying Healthy
Remind your student to get a flu shot
Help us keep campus healthy by reminding your student to get a flu shot. Don’t wait until it’s too late — flu season can ramp up at any time.
Getting a flu shot is easy and takes only a few minutes. Students can go to University Health Services (UHS), 333 East Campus Mall, now through November 15 for free flu shots. The clinic is open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m.–4:30 p.m. Students need to show their student IDs and are asked to wear a shirt with roll-up sleeves.
Students can also go to one of two satellite clinics for their flu shots:
- Thursday, October 24: Dejope Hall (Lakeshore Clinic), 640 Elm Drive, 4 p.m.–7 p.m. (Shots are administered by the School of Nursing.)
- Friday, October 25: Health Sciences Learning Center (Atrium), 750 Highland Avenue, noon–5 p.m.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that everyone aged 6 months or older get a seasonal influenza vaccination every year. We strongly encourage all students to get flu shots. For more information, visit the UHS webpage.
If your student does get sick
If your student has flu-like symptoms, he or she should stay home from school and work, get rest, and try to ease the symptoms. We advise students to:
- Stay home for at least 24 hours after their fever is gone without the use of fever-reducing medicine.
- Monitor their temperature and keep their fever down with acetaminophen or ibuprofen.
- Drink lots of fluids — two to three liters per day. Warm water and hot tea can help alleviate a dry cough.
- Remember that the flu and cold are viral infections — antibiotics will not help.
- Call UHS at 608-265-5600 if they have concerns or questions about their symptoms, or are at high risk of complications.
- Contact their professors directly regarding missed classes or work. Each professor may have different processes and suggestions for students who need to make up assignments or obtain information.
More information on self-care and when to seek medical treatment can be found here.
Preventive measures
Although the flu shot is the single best way to prevent the flu, reminding your student of the following tips to help keep him or her — and the campus — healthier.
- Wash your hands. With soap. Several times a day. It’s one of the easiest and most effective ways to prevent the flu and other illnesses.
- Clean or not, keep your hands down. The average person touches his or her face at least three or four times an hour — and that’s likely more often than you wash your hands. To avoid getting sick, keep your fingers away from your face.
- Aim for the elbow zone. Feeling a sneeze or cough coming on? If a tissue isn’t available, go for your elbow, not your hands.
Other vaccines
Make sure your student is up to date on important vaccines to protect against meningococcal disease, hepatitis B, and pertussis (whooping cough). UHS provides these vaccines to students for a fee.
Meningococcal vaccine, in particular, is recommended for all college freshmen who live in a residence hall. UHS recommends that all current students ages 21 and under get a booster dose of meningococcal vaccine if their first dose was given before age 16. If the vaccine was given at age 16 or later, no booster is required.