18 = Terrace Review. —~ Wednesday, November 13, 1991

Nightmare on Munroe St. 2 :

Needle fear

by Tod Strachan

Grade 9 students at Skeena
Junior Secondary School are
going to have to learn to relax a
little. A hypodermic needle is no
‘big deal, even when it’s the
most feared of all, the awesome
tetanus injection.

It.seems Grade 9 Skeena Jun- J

ior Secondary School students
have unknowingly made it a

practice to see how many stu- Bm
dents can leave school at mid- jf

day by ambulance during the
annual round of tetanus shots.
The number is growing every
year — this year seven girls and
a boy fell victim to the
unwanted shot in the arm, and
three of them were loaded into
ambulances and driven to the
hospital. And Skeena is the only
school in the Skeena Health Unit
region where this happens.

The phenomenon has been
cause for an investigation by
Skeena Health Unit chief medi-
cal officer Dr. David Bowering.
Bowering poked around, inter-
viewed, and even put out a pro-
vincial alert. He asked Dr. John
Farley of the Division of
Epidemiology at the B.C. Centre
for Disease Control to check out
the lot number of the current
tetanus: vaccine being used in
B.C. .

Bowering’s conclusion? Mass
hysteria.

Bowering says it’s nothing to
be ashamed of; hysteria is some-
thing that feeds on itself.

One year, a student or two
feels a little faint. That’s normal.
But the next year the story being

Dr. David Bowering:
hysteria.

Mass

told describes those one or two
unfortunate souls as being criti-
cally ill, writhing in pain on the
floor. So that year, an ambu-
lance is called to carry away a
victim of the dreaded syringe.

The-next year, the story is that
he died... after lying in a coma
for 46 days. That year, two
ambulances are called, and next
year’s story is that the fate of
those two unfortunate victims is
being considered for a Holly-
wood movie.

The stories begin circulating
weeks before. armed nurses
arrive at the school. Bowering
reports many students say they
had trouble sleeping and cating
for several weeks before the
feared day.

The day of the needle arrives.
A young girl, mulling over the

stories of the year before, feels -

a little light-headed as she enters

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Terrace
8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. — Monday to Friday
8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. — Saturday

Phone: 635-5119 ™

_increased even more.

fells Skeena teens |

the school cafeteria. Her time is
near. The student ahead of her
says, "Did you see the size of
that needle?” And with arms
stretched as if describing the
giant spring salmon that got
away, "It was this big!"

The girl's rate of breathing
increases. She feels a little short
of breath. "Roll up your sleeve,"
says the six-foot eight, 289-
pound nurse. The girl bursts into
tears but dutifully begins to roll.

oe _ "Next," says the nurse. The girl

is a little surprised and embar-
rassed with the efficient speed
of the nurse. She didn’t even
feel the shot.

But wait. Something’s wrong.
The girl’s rate of breathing has
She is
taking in more oxygen than she
requires and the normal balance
of carbon dioxide in the biood is
being lowered. As a result, the
girls blood becomes a little more
alkaline than it should be.

She feels a numbness around
the lips. Tingling in the fingers.
She feels short of breath and
gasps for more air. Her hands
tense into uncontrolled claws.
"They’ve murdered me," she
screams. And faints.|

Those in line behind her begin
breathing more rapidly. One
student tries to leave. The girl
behind him won’t let him. "If
I’m going to go, you’re going to
go too,” she says firmly.

Saturday.

It’s called mass hysteria, and
according to Bowering it’s a
very real, communicable condi-
tion. The girl didn’t fall victim
io the needle. She fell victim to
the thought of it due to the
stories circulated by her peers.

Her symptoms were real, but
they weren’t caused by an aller-
gic reaction. She suffered the
symptoms of what is commonly
known. as hyperventilation, a
condition that often results from
unusual stress.

The only cure, says Bowering,
is a better awareness of the real
facts on the part of the students.
There is nothing unusual, secre-
tive or harmful in the tetanus
vaccine. It’s a shot in the arm
just like any other. And that
story about the boy who died
and lay in state in front of the
principal’s office for a week last
year is not true. He hyperventil-
ated and missed one class. And
they’re not making a movie.

Beyond awareness, though, a
few other changes are going to
be made as well. For one,
smaller groups of students will
be called to receive their vacci-
nations at any one time. And for
another, the days of vaccinations
in the Skeena cafeteria are gone.
A quieter, more private room
will be found instead, a room
that encourages relaxation
instead of hyperactivity.

Bowering says Grade 9 is the
standard age group given the
annual tetanus shot throughout
the province but unfortunately
these students are at an age
when they are most vulnerable to
the effects of stress. A quieter
room, a little more privacy,
though, and they should survive
the trauma of the vaccination
just fine. :

One thing that won’t change at
Skeena are the public health
nurses who administered this
year’s round of vaccine. They
haven’t finished their job yet,
says Bowering; there are stu-
dents at Skeena who haven’t
received their tetanus shot yet.
And the nurses who vaccinated
the first group of students did an
excellent job, he says. They did
everything right and handled
each little crisis well.

Grade 9 Skeena students yet:to
be vaccinated should be aware
that those three kids who left
school in an ambulance Monday,
Oct. 28, are alive and well.
There were no long term reac-
tions, says Bowering. All three,
in fact, slept comfortably in their
own beds that night and were
back at school the next day.

And those stories about six

foot eight, 289 pound nurses

aren’t true either. They only
appear that way because the
needle is so small.

We're all winners if
YOU buy a cash

calendar

) Support a CT scanner for the region.

Until Dec. 23, Cash Calendars are available from
local businesses, banks and Elks members. The Elks will
be selling them in the Skeena Mall every Friday and

They make wonderful Christmas, birthday and
anniversary presents. Superb old photos of life in the
Northwest. Only $30 |
To or

der your calendars
or get more information,

call 635-5178 or 635-6790

a

| , - 5