New SGA Officers
The Student Government Association appointed several new officers at its meeting on Oct. 5. From
left to right are Scott Richmond, Joe Marsicano, Jon Smith, Jessica Crum, Lisa Nagele, Jordan
Merkel, Jennifer Scharff, and Chris Wood. Story and an additional photo, page 3.
Domestic Violence Awareness
The Focus of Campus Volunteers
By Cathie McCormick Musser
Capital Times Staff Writer
The call came moments after
Angela walked in the door. The
harried voice on the telephone
asked if she could help.
The volunteer on-call was
unavailable; Angela lived only
minutes from the hospital.
“I was nervous,” Angela said.
The training she received from
the Sexual Assault Prevention
and Counseling Center (SAPCC)
was about to be put to use.
Angela L. Keen, a PSH stu
dent majoring in Behavioral
Photo by Cathie McCormick Musser
Angela Keen
Science and Public Policy, spent
the next three hours as a volun
teer medical advocate for an 18-
year-old victim of acquaintance
rape while the medical and law
enforcement communities did
their work.
The three-hour ordeal includ
ed a 15-step forensic medical
exam. The steps include pubic
hair combing and sampling for
evidence and digging under the
victim’s fingernails among other,
more invasive, procedures.
“I had to get her through this
first step,” Keen said. “I kept
thinking back to my training to
make sure I was asking the right
questions.”
This type of volunteer work
has inspired Keen to pursue a
career helping women. It also
inspired Keen to spearhead a
series of activities at PSH during
October for Domestic Violence
Awareness Month.
Keen’s involvement with
issues of sexual assault and
domestic violence began in the
spring of 1998 when she attend
ed volunteer training with
Soup-Up
Your
Soul
Volume XL. No. 5 Wednesday, October 20, 1009
Lancaster YWCA’s SAPCC.
After the training, Keen was
qualified to staff the center’s 24-
hour hotline and act as a medical
advocate for rape victims.
“Angela has been a volunteer
for at least two years,” Kathleen
Forney, Volunteer Coordinator,
said.
“She’s an exceptional, com
mitted volunteer who works
much more than the typical 12
hours a month and she’s always
here,” Forney added.
During the summer of 1999,
Keen also completed an intern
ship with the National Resource
Center for Domestic Violence in
Harrisburg.
Keen’s involvement with
Domestic Violence Awareness
Month began during her intern
ship. She helped write copy for
brochures and organized activi
ties.
As Domestic Violence
Awareness Month approached,
Keen noted the lack of planned
activities at PSH.
Continued on Page 3
Authors’
Hancock
Lions’ Tales
page 2
It’s Open Season
Unless you look forward to a
week or two laid up in bed utterly
miserable with achy-feverish
chills-and-pain all over as a desir
able break in your schedule, you
should get a flu shot to prevent
this little unplanned “vacation.”
The influenza virus slams a
powerful, sometimes fatal punch
to those who get it and is not a
respecter of whom it hits.
According to the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention,
in an average year, influenza is
associated with 20,000 deaths
nationwide.
“Students often think the flu is
only something elderly people
get, or that it won’t be that bad if
they do get it,” says Matylou
Martz, R.N., the Penn State
Harrisburg nurse. “The flu can
affect everyone.”
It’s a common myth that the
flu shot brings on or somehow is
ineffective in protection against a
case of the influenza virus.
One possible reason for this
perception, Martz says, is that
“people tend to label all bad colds
as the flu. So, even if they get a
shot or know someone who did,
and then they, or that person, gets
sick later, they’ll call it the flu,
even though it may be just a cold.”
The viruses that cause the flu
mutate often. The outbreaks
begin in Asia.
Each year, a different major
strain of the influenza virus is iso
lated. The most dangerous,
strongest strain is the one targeted.
According to Martz, the virus
usually gains access to the U.S.
through Alaska from cruise
ships. Because it is a different
strain each year, a person needs a
new vaccine every year, prefer
ably before December because
the vaccine supply, available to
the public in the fall, tends to
dwindle after that.
While it is the major strain
that is isolated, there are minor
strains, as well.
According to the U.S.
Department of Health and
Hot Dog!
Opium-ated
Fast Food
page 4
for the Flu
By Barb Roy, R.N.
Capital Times Staff Writer
Reduce
Friction
With STP
page 7
Human Services, sometimes a
person comes down with the flu
even after immunization, but it is
due to exposure to the lesser,
non-isolated, strain.
The immunization you receive
contains a non-live virus to cre-
ate antibodies within your own
immune system to fight any
exposure to the major strain.
After immunization, if you
come down with a slight case of
the flu, the symptoms will be
much milder than a non-vacci
nated person.
Also, there is a period of about
ten days when a person may be
susceptible to the flu after inocu
lation, until the full immuniza
tion is in effect in their bodies,
during which time they may be
vulnerable.
There are some people who
should not be immunized. They
are people who have a serious
allergic reaction to eggs or a his
tory of Guillain-Barre Syndrome.
Also, if you have an illness at
the time of the immunization, put
it off until you are better.
The effects of the inoculation
are slight, but may include sore
ness, redness or swelling at the
injection site (the upper arm.)
Sever reactions to the injection
Continued on Page 4
FREE!
Free flu shots will be
given on November 1
from 2p.m. to 7p.m. in
the Gallery Lounge. No
appointment needed.
page 8