With cold and flu season approaching, Olin Health Center, the Residence Halls Association and Healthy U collaborated to provide students with "Cold and Flu Survival Packs."
The packs include items such as a disposable thermometer, sanitary hand wipes, instant hand sanitizer, cough drops and a tea bag. They also include information on cold and flu prevention, a wallet card with facts about MSU students and cold and flu, how to distinguish colds and flu viruses from meningitis and when to go and get treatment.
More than 80 percent of students reported they'd had a cold or flu in the past year, said Jonathan Kermiet, a health educator at Olin Health Center. About one in four MSU students said their academics suffered from having a cold or flu in the past year, he said.
The three groups supplying the packs want to see these numbers reduced, Kermiet said.
"We want to remind them to do what they can, like practicing good hygiene, not getting fatigued or tired, not sharing personal items with their roommates," he said. "If these things are done, we should be able to reduce significantly the number of students who get colds or flu."
Olin Health Center, the Healthy U program and RHA funded the printing for 7,000 packs, which became available Wednesday. Packs are available in some residence halls and near the pharmacy at Olin Health Center.
The campus collaboration to organize this allows them to help not only students, but also faculty and staff, said Nancy Allen, the director of Healthy U.
"Any time we can collaborate to improve the health of the campus as a whole, that's a positive," she said. "It's a model to follow more in the future."
For the past three or four years, the packs have been handed out, although they have changed every year, Kermiet said.
They've been popular in the past, with most of the packs being gone and used by the end of the flu season, said Kevin Newman, president of RHA.
"It has a far reaching effect for a lot of the residents," Newman said.
RHA members wanted to hand out the packs because the group feels it is important to help students in residence halls and improve their quality of life, Newman said.
The "cute" packs may be colorful and fun, but if used properly, they contain some useful advice, Allen said.
"It's a common sense reminder — that's important."
