On Tuesday night, Colleges Against Cancer held a kickoff event for the upcoming fundraiser, Relay For Life. The kickoff was in recognition of the work already done by students for the event.
“We gave out prizes for different teams or individuals who raised money or had a lot of activity in their team so far and we got people excited for the upcoming relay,” freshman Bekah Diamond said.
The event also encouraged people to keep up their hard work. So far, $13,000 has been raised for Relay For Life, not including cash donations. CAC has seen a great deal of success in their two years on campus. This is the first year they are holding a Relay For Life at UR and the turnout and response they are receiving was unexpected.
“CAC is a really new group on campus,” Diamond said. “We had to fight to have our own relay and we almost had to team up with another college because we were afraid we wouldn’t have enough people.”
Relay For Life is the American Cancer Societies biggest yearly fundraiser. The event, which is over 20 years old, is an all night event that raises money for cancer research and American Cancer Society programming. “The fundraiser is all night because cancer never sleeps,” junior Sarah Baroody said.
Here at UR, each participant pays a $10 entrance fee, the minimum donation, and his or her team takes part in the 12 hour event. Over the course of this time, the goal is to have one member of every team moving around the indoor track. Besides walking around the track, students can play in the basketball game, or on the Moonbounce.
“We’re trying to keep one member from each team on the track all night,” Baroody said. “There will also be a ceremony for those who lost the battle against cancer and those who are struggling.”
Registration for Relay For Life is open until the event begins but participants are encouraged to register as soon as possible. The event will be held April 8 to 9.
“I’m really excited for the relay it’s going to be off the hook,” Diamond said.URMC water tests free of bacteriaThe UR Medical Center’s main water supply has been tested and found free of the Legionella bacteria, the cause of Legionnaires’ Disease in humans.
Last week, the water system was treated with high levels of chlorine and superheated water. These steps were necessary due to an outbreak in which three people contracted the disease. Of these, one patient died of a combination of Legionnaires’ Disease and other factors.
Since the first diagnosis, many patients at the hospital have been restricted to using bottled water for both bathing and drinking. These restrictions were put in place to aid in containing the spread of the disease.
“We will continue to use bottled water for drinking,” Director of Infection Control Paul Graman said. “We will also restrict bathing and showers for immune-compromised patients in the main hospital until another set of follow-up tests confirm that water treatments have been effective.”
Legionnaires’ Disease is transferred to humans by aspiration through the lungs. Because of this, immune-compromised patients are vulnerable to inhalation of Legionella-infected water vapor during showers.
Although URMC will continue to use bottled water until March 3 in the main hospital facility, some other parts of the hospital have reverted back to tap water. The emergency department, which has its own separate water supply, returned to the use of tap water on Feb. 22.
Faculty and staff at URMC are confident that the Legionella bacteria have been eradicated. For their decontamination efforts, success is probable.Reporting by Bonnie Jarrett and Matt Majarian.
