Amongst circulating conversations about Quinnipiac’s dining option, Chartwells, regarding undercooked and moldy food, Chartwells and Haven’s Harvest announced their partnership, Dec. 3, 2019, to address hunger in Hamden.
“5 days a week, QU Dining will pack up excess food from the Mount Carmel cafeteria where our partner, Haven’s Harvest, has a system for putting together those with excess food with those who need food,” said Sean Duffy, professor of political science and the executive director of the Albert Schweitzer Institute at Quinnipiac. “Volunteers will transport that food from one place to another will ensure that the food is connected to community partners in Hamden.”
A view of the crowd with Quinnipiac’s new live feed of the Piazza.
Those who are hungry in Hamden are not alone, as this is a nationwide problem. Every year 40% of the nation’s food gets thrown away. That’s about 125 billion tons of food, which is the equivalent of 615 aircraft carriers of food.
In hopes to resolve this problem, Quinnipiac has made many recent partnerships with Hamden organizations like the Albert Schweitzer Institute, Haven’s Harvest and United Way. One of the biggest ways Quinnipiac has partnered with the community to prevent this issue is with a program called Be Kind, Leave your Food Behind.
“This organization creates a very large food drive at the end of the academic year during move out and students have excessive food, instead of throwing it away we collect it.” said Bethany Zemba, vice president and chief of staff at Quinnipiac University. “Last year, 5.5 tons of food was collected and donated to the local non-profits and food pantries and and over the past 12 years this initiative has collectively distributed an estimated 34 tons of food”
Bethany Zemba at the podium.
Duffy mentioned that estimates put the number of people who are food insecure in the US as high as a ⅓ of the population. Food security is often described as the ability of a household or community to satisfy its need for affordable, nutritious and culturally appropriate food.
“There is an increasing number of those hungry in the United States. In Hamden, 39% of all households fall into the category called ALICE households,” Duffy said. “This stands for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed Households.
Though difficult to measure, The United Way focuses on households annual and monthly earnings and if they fall between the official poverty level in the United States and the minimal cost of living at a particular location and region.
“These are the households that are making money, but not enough to get by and so it’s quite possible that these are the households that have difficulty assessing an efficient quantity of affordable, nutritious, and culturally relevant foods,” Duffy said.
Quinnipiac plans to continue to help the hunger problem in the community, and is in the works to build a vegetable garden on campus in the spring of 2020.
Earlier this year, Connecticut released data revealing that over 100 Connecticut schools had vaccination rates below federal guidelines. As a result, Gov. Ned Lamont and other officials are working to repeal the religious exemption law, under which people can choose not to vaccinate due to their religious beliefs.
A bucket of used vaccinations. Photo by Kristen Altmeyer
“Connecticut has pockets of very dangerous numbers of low vaccination rates, which is what caused the problem in New York State,” said Democratic House Rep. Matt Ritter, referring to the outbreak of measles in Brooklyn earlier in the year.
“We suspect later this month, when the more updated list comes out it will be a lot more schools,” said Ritter.
Ritters suspicion was correct, as the 2018-2019 school-by-school vaccination rate data revealed that 134 schools have vaccination rates for measles, mumps and rubella below federal guidelines. The schools featured in the data had more than 30 kindergarten students.
Quinnipiac student Leah Sutherland receiving a shot. Photo by Kristen Altmeyer.
All it takes is one unvaccinated person to set the percentage rate below the federal guidelines.
“You’ll see schools in the low 70’s and it’s interesting because you’re only talking about 30 kids,” said Ritter. Some will argue, well if you just add two kids that are vaccinated, the rate goes up to 95%, and that argument works both ways. What’s scary about it is that if you lose one kid, you’re back below, so it works both ways.”
In 2007, about 460 people had vaccination exemptions in Connecticut. Today, that number is closer to 2,000 people. While 96.5% of Connecticut residents receive vaccinations, it is still considered a health issue.
“The job of a legislature, public health commissioner and her staff is to not to wait until something happens,” said Ritter. “It’s to see a pattern and say ‘If we don’t do something about this pattern, we know something bad is going to happen.’ It’s trying to get ahead of it.”
There is a broad consensus between the governor and the public health commissioner to propel this bill forward.
“Governor Lamont is standing side by side with the families who have made the responsible decision to ensure their children are immunized in order to attend public schools, a figure which DPH reports consists of 95% of children in our education system,” said Rob Blanchard, Gov. Lamont’s communication director. “Decades of science clearly proves that more children who receive their vaccinations, the safer it is for everyone, especially those who may be susceptible to serious diseases.”
The bill does not require children to get vaccinated, but instead would prohibit them from entering Connecticut’s public and private schools. Those with medical exemptions due to immunization complications will not be affected by the new law. But there is a backlash from people who say those exemptions are important for their beliefs and to honor their religion.
“My great grandparents would be appalled knowing that vaccinations would be mandatory for children in Connecticut,” said senior marketing major Jessica O’Keefe, a member of the Orthodox community. “They would definitely feel like this was an attack on our religion.”
But Ritter says that that legislators are not challenging anyone’s beliefs.
“The problem is, we have to look at the greater good for the state of Connecticut and we have to look at the population that’s medically fragile, the other 96 percent of the state and we have to make a policy decision,” said Ritter.
There is a stereotype that all members affiliated in the Jewish religion do not receive vaccinations. There is a small sector of the branch of Orthodox Jewish affiliates that are the anti-vaccers. In latin, Orthodox means a “strict adherence to the law.”
“I think it’s sinful,” said Rabbi Reena Judd of Quinnipiac University. “I think it’s our human responsibility to embrace technology and medical advancements that not just lengthen the days of our life, but enhance the quality of those days.”
The sector of Orthodox Jewish members that refuse to get vaccines does so because they are in denial of modernity.
“My great grandparents generation believed everything was to be natural and to avoid medicines,” O’Keefe said. “They believed their bodies would heal through the power and believe through investment in our religion.”
Although the United States has combated the first measles outbreak in 1912 and was declared as a “measles free” country, the measles have now taken residency in 31 states since 2019.
Graphic by Kristen Altmeyer
“I think the main reason we have another measles outbreak, is that people don’t understand what measles does to the human body,” said Dr. Brett Lindenbach, an associate professor of microbial biology at Yale. “They don’t know much about the virus. People have forgotten what it’s like to have measles or to have their children infected by it.”
According to the CDC, measles is known as one of the most contagious diseases in the world. It is an airborne virus that can infect anyone that has been in the same vicinity as someone who is infected. Measles can lead to blindness, brain swelling, intellectual disabilities and even death. In 1657, measles appeared for the first time in Boston. Due to a high number of vaccination rates, America was able to declare that they were a measles-free nation in 2000. Today, America faces a record number of measles outbreaks and has lost its measles free status. The measles are in New Haven County’s backyard, with three reported cases in New Haven in 2019.
As Connecticut is working to combat its measles outbreak, so is the rest of the world.
“In seven countries, there has been a return of the measles and indigenous transmission of measles,” said Dr. Saad Omer, a vaccinologist and infectious disease epidemiologist at Yale University. “In this country, we eliminated indigenous transmission of measles and now it’s mostly imported from places like Europe and the outbreaks associated with it, but if measles return as an indigenous disease, then we have more cases.”
If the bill passes, it won’t be in effect until the school year of 2021-2022.
Though it was cancer that Judd overcame and not the measles, the Quinnipiac rabbi said she believes modern medicine is the answer.
“I embrace concepts of modernity,” Judd said. “I’m an eight year survivor of fourth stage colorectal cancer. Had I not embraced modernity, I’d be dead.”
The Connecticut Department of Public Health announced on Oct. 25 that a fourth case of measles has been identified in Fairfield County. The report stated that the infected person was a school-aged boy. The child was infected in early October, but was not contagious while in school.
“I feel a sense of uneasiness knowing that measles are in my surrounding area,” Sammi Chauvin, a Fairfield University senior nursing student, said. “I am up to date on all my vaccinations so I personally don’t fear getting measles. However, my concern lies with those who are not vaccinated.”
While the state health department confirmed that the child was not infected with the disease while in school, a process and investigation must be done, according Renee D. Coleman Mitchell, Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Public Health. Public health workers have to explore every possible encounter the person with measles might have had, in an attempt get ahead of another diagnosis.
Measles presents as a red, blotchy skin rash. Other symptoms are fevers, sore throat, cough, runny nose and inflamed eyes. The symptoms show up typically 10 to 14 days after exposure. (Credit: Centers for Disease Control.)
“If a cohort of students has a low vaccination rate, they may be susceptible to an outbreak,” said Dr. Brett Lindenbach, an associate professor of microbial biology at Yale. “Vaccination is like an investment, a type of insurance. It is also the right thing to do. Some children may be unable to accept the vaccine for medical or other reasons. They rely on herd immunity.”
Connecticut legislature is working to pass a law that will make vaccinations mandatory for all children entering the school system. Those with medical exemptions will not be affected if the law passes.
The Fairfield measles case is the only one in that county. The other three diagnoses have been in New Haven county, starting in January, with the two other cases in February and April.
“Four reported cases of measles doesn’t sound like a massive burden on health care,” Lindenbach said. “This is because Connecticut has relatively high vaccination rates. If that rate gets too low, outbreaks will occur. This happened throughout New York Orthodox communities. Also, bear in mind that measles kills less than 100,000 people a year, mostly in developing countries, where measles vaccination rates can get low.”
According to the CDC, measles is one of the most contagious diseases in the world. The term “measle” is derived from an old German and Dutch word for a spot or pustule on the skin. It is an airborne virus that can cause lack of hearing, vision and brain damage. Those who are not vaccinated are a threat to not only themselves, but those around them.
“The time to get vaccinated for measles is before entering school, as the airborne virus spreads easily in large or small groups of people,” Lindenbach said.
Although the United States combated the first measles outbreak in 1912 and was declared as a “measles free” country, the measles has made a comeback in 31 states since 2019.
“It’s hard for me, as an advocate of health care, to see something that is so preventable resurface in our surrounding communities,” Chauvin said. “All nurses and health care providers in general believe in the importance of vaccinations for preventing diseases like measles. It seems almost selfish that parents are willing to put their children and other individuals at risk for something that has a preventative treatment.”
