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  • Amherst High student dies after 'brief illness'

    Amherst High student dies after 'brief illness'

    By Peter Simon
    <!-- Begin /PubSys/Common/Decisions/if_creditline_with_dash.comp -->News Staff Reporter
    <!-- End /PubSys/Common/Decisions/if_creditline_with_dash.comp -->Updated: November 02, 2009, 5:24 PM /
    <!-- ADDTHIS BUTTON BEGIN --><SCRIPT type=text/javascript> addthis_pub = 'buffalonews'; addthis_logo = 'http://www.buffalonews.com/static/images/shared/addthis.jpg'; addthis_brand = 'Buffalo News'; addthis_options = 'myweb, favorites, google, fark, delicious, digg, myspace, facebook, live, reddit, slashdot, newsvine, technorati, more'; </SCRIPT><!-- ADDTHIS BUTTON END --><!-- end share buttons --><!-- End /PubSys/Story/MediaBox/MediaBox.comp --><!--endclickprintexclude--><!---->

    An Amherst High School student died Sunday morning following "a brief illness," Amherst Superintendent Laura K. Chabe said today.

    The girl has been identified at Chelsea Oliver, 15.
    However, both Chabe and a spokesman for the Erie County Health Department said they are prohibited by federal privacy laws from discussing specifics of the illness, or from identifying the student.

    School officials conferred with Health Department representatives after the death to make sure they had been and were continuing to follow proper procedures to limit the spread of both seasonal and H1N1 flu. It was determined that the procedures are and were proper, Chabe said.

    On Sunday evening, Chabe sent automated phone calls to about about 3,000 parents, faculty and staff in the school district.

    "We are very sad to inform you that following a brief illness one of our high school students passed away Sunday morning," Chabe said in the phone call. "It's a very sad day in our district and community, and our condolences go out to the family and friends of our student."

    She also said school officials have been in touch with Health Department officials, "and have been assured that it is safe for your children to be in school."

    Chabe this morning described the mood of the district as "very solemn, as you would imagine." She said she had not yet received a report on attendance today at the high school, which is located at 4301 Main Street.

    Asked about the cause of death, Chabe replied: "We don't know the cause of death. I don't know if we ever will."

    Even if the the cause of death were known, federal privacy rules would prevent her from revealing those and other details, Chabe said.
    The Health Department also is bound by those privacy rules, said Kevin

    Montgomery, a spokesman for the Erie County Health Department.

    "We can only tell people what we usually tell them" about taking precautions to prevent the spread of the flu, Montgomery said.

    In more general terms, 15 school districts in Erie County last week reported increases in flu-like illnesses among students, nine reported decreases and five said they were holding steady, Montgomery said.

    School districts hit hard by the flu are reporting absenteeism rates of more than 20 percent, Montgomery said.

    When the flu is prevalent in a particular school, it generally spikes for about a week before receding, he added.

    Two Buffalo students died of the H1N1 flu virus last June.

    Nationally, there were 292 laboratory-confirmed H1N1 deaths between August 2009 and Oct. 10, 2009, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

    "Safety and security don't just happen, they are the result of collective consensus and public investment. We owe our children, the most vulnerable citizens in our society, a life free of violence and fear."
    -Nelson Mandela

  • #2
    Re: Amherst High student dies after 'brief illness'

    High school mourns loss of teen girl

    Published : Monday, 02 Nov 2009, 6:33 PM EST

    • Posted by: Emily Lenihan

    BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - Students at Amherst High School are remembering a classmate Monday night.
    Parents and students are wondering if swine flu was involved.
    Fifteen-year-old Chelsea Oliver, a sophomore at Amherst Central High School, died Sunday morning following a brief illness, and while a Facebook entry by a friend says she succumbed to H1N1, health officials won't confirm it.
    "Because of patient confidentiality issues we can't acknowledge or deny anything related to this," said Erie County Health Commissioner Dr. Anthony Billittier.
    Chelsea is remembered as a friendly child who did not follow the main stream crowd.
    "She **** out with the alternative kids in her grade, but it was interesting because she was just she was just so friendly to everyone, and I really noticed that. When I first met her I was intimidated by her, the way she dressed and looked. She looked different. She had her own style, but she always made such an effort to be kind to everyone," said Chelsea's classmate Galia Binder.
    At Amherst High School there was a moment of silence for Chelsea Oliver and help for anyone who was having trouble emotionally coping.
    "We're asking that our staff members pay close attention to the students in their classroom, as well as to each other, to determine whether or not they feel they need additional services," said Amherst Schools Superintendent Laura Chabe.
    Billittier tells News 4 there is a decreasing number of students absent from area schools due to H1N1, but an uncertainty about whether it will now spread from school children to their parents.
    "With seasonal flu we tend to see it spreading in schools and they bring it home to we parents, and so the question is, are we going to see it here, I don't know. Nobody really knows the answer to that question," said Billittier.
    Dr. Billittier says there are still schools with high numbers of children who are infected with H1N1.
    He says there must continue to be an emphasis on keeping high touch surface areas like door knobs and hand rails clean, as a first line of defense.


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    • #3
      Re: Amherst High student dies after 'brief illness'

      Amherst school officials confirm that a student in the district died Sunday morning after a brief illness. Chelsea Oliver, 15, was a sophomore at Amherst High School.
      On Sunday, the pastor at St. Jude the Apostle in North Tonawanda announced that Chelsea died as a result of H1N1. Close friends of the family tell 2 On Your Side that Chelsea was in the Youth Group at the church.
      Superintendent Laura Chabe contacted the Erie County Health Commissioner after learning of the student's death. She was informed that it is safe for the school to be open because proper protocol was followed and is in place.
      Grief counselors were available for students and faculty on Monday.


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      • #4
        Re: Amherst High student dies after 'brief illness'

        Nov 29, 2009

        Community Helps Family of Amherst Teen Who Died

        A deadly combination of swine flu, MRSA, and pneumonia is the suspected cause of death
        for an Amherst teenager earlier this month.

        On Sunday, family members and friends of 15-year-old Chelsea Oliver are gathered at Bobby McGee's restaurant in Amherst to remember Chelsea and raise money to help Chelsea's mom with funeral expenses. Cheryl Oliver says her daughter was an otherwise healthy girl, but she went downhill fast once she got sick. She says she's touched by the turn out at the benefit.
        "Just seeing the number of people that have come through and the things people have said about her, they've made facebook pages about her in her memory, and just the number of lives that she's touched..." says Oliver.
        Chelsea was a student at Amherst High School


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