Community Health Department Investigation Project

Community Health Department Investigation Project

Community Health Department Investigation Project

Heather Chavez

SC300-28

Community Health Department Investigation Project

Based on the information I was able to gather from the charts, Truman and Jackson Middle Schools are the two out of four that experienced a spike in absences on the same days. Interestingly enough, the only class that showed a drastic increase was the band class from each of these two schools.

Question 1

I do believe there is a common reason for why these absences took place and that is because of illness. The interviews that were conducted by the Community Health Department showed that 9 out of the 10 children from Truman Middle School whose parents were interviewed were sick with a variety of symptoms such as headache, diarrhea, fever, vomiting, and stomach ache. Also, 7 of the 8 parents interviewed from Jackson Middle School had children sick with same symptoms as those from Truman.

Question 2

My first hypothesis is that the children from both Truman and Jackson Middle Schools became ill with the flu because of their contact with each other at the Battle of the Bands they were both participating in on May 19. The increase in absences took place on May 20 and 21 at both schools; therefore the children from both schools must have the same illness.

My second hypothesis is that the children from both Truman and Jackson Middle Schools became ill with food poisoning after eating at a restaurant while they were out of town competing at the Battle of the Bands on May 19. Restaurant inspections performed at Take Your Chances Diner and DELIcious showed that freezer shelves were dirty, food in the freezers were not being stored high enough off the ground, and that dirty cloths were being used to wipe surfaces that food came in contact with. The increase in absences took place on May 20 and 21 at both schools; therefore the children from both schools must have the same...