Dear Centennial Harvest Feast guest,
Thank you very much for your support and assistance as Vancouver Coastal Health investigates the illness the followed Centennial Harvest Feast.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with Vancouver Coastal Health, they are the government body responsible for public health in the region and as such has both the authority and expertise to conduct investigations of outbreaks and communicable illnesses.
Vancouver Coastal Health has developed an online survey to aid them in their investigation into the illnesses associated with the Centennial Harvest Feast.
In addition to filling out this survey (link is below) we would greatly appreciate if you could help us with the following:
- Please forward this to all those ticket purchasers on your email list. We request that each purchaser forward to others in their party / group who are not on this list.
- Please request that all attendees complete the survey, whether or not they became ill as this information will help us to identify the cause or source of illness.
- For those who have already provided this or similar information to us (via email or phone), please also complete the survey, as given the large number of attendees, it will help us to collect and analyze the data more efficiently.
- You will find the survey at the following link: https://vchhealthsurvey.phsa.ca/Centennial-Harvest-Feast.aspx
Thank you very much for your assistance. Once more details have been obtained, we will be reaching out again to share more information.
Centennial Harvest Feast Illness
Dear Harvest Feast attendees,
First of all, thank you for attending the Centennial Harvest Feast on Thursday night. On Friday, some of the attendees reported stomach upset. If you are suffering these symptoms, I am very sorry and I want you to know UBC is taking this very seriously. We have contacted Vancouver Coastal Health, who is currently investigating the situation.
If you or anyone you know who attended the Feast is experiencing stomach upset or diarrhea, it would be very helpful to the investigation if you reported your symptoms to Vancouver Coastal Health, Heath Protection at 604-675-3800. Vancouver Coastal Health also advises you to see a health care professional (i.e. doctor) if you are still suffering symptoms today (Saturday).
The safety of our community is UBC’s number one priority. We are very concerned by these reports and are taking immediate action. To help with Vancouver Coastal Health’s investigation, catering teams from both the AMS and UBC Food Services are reviewing the temperature logs and food handling practices associated with this event to ensure our high food safety standards were met.
We will let you know how the Vancouver Coastal Health investigation proceeds and follow up as new information becomes available. Again, our whole team at UBC is sorry for this unfortunate circumstance and sends our thoughts out to anyone who became ill after the event.
Yours sincerely,
Michael White, MCIP
Associate Vice President
Campus and Community Planning
The University of British Columbia