Policies: Communicable Diseases

Alpena Community College, in order to strike a balance between the right of a student or employee infected with a reportable communicable disease to continue his/her education or employment and the right of fellow students or employees to be free from the risk of exposure to communicable disease, will adhere to the following guidelines and procedures. Reportable communicable diseases defined by the Michigan Department of Public Health include, but are not limited to, Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS), hepatitis, tuberculosis, and venereal diseases.

1. The Assistant Dean of Health Occupations will administer this policy through the office of the Vice President for Instruction, Student Services & Community Services. The College will analyze and respond humanely to each case as is appropriate to its particular circumstances.
2. Sensitivity to the student or employee involved and to the confidential nature of the situation will be practiced while the College takes action deemed necessary for the health, safety and welfare of others.
3. In the spirit of this policy, any student or employee who has been diagnosed as having a reportable communicable disease is urged to notify the Assistant Dean of Health Occupations. Any such person is also urged to consider the welfare of others and act in a responsible manner.
4. A student or employee who becomes aware that someone attending or employed by the College has a reportable communicable disease that poses a health hazard to others should report this to the Assistant Dean of Health Occupations directly or through the appropriate supervisor. All confidentiality and privacy rights are to be respected.
5. The Assistant Dean of Health Occupations will contact any person reported to have a serious communicable disease and attempt to verify the information.
6. If the information can be verified, or in cases when a student or employee has reported that he/she has a reportable communicable disease, the Assistant Dean of Health Occupations will notify the College President.
7. The President or his designee, acting under the guidelines of the Michigan Department of Public Health, is authorized to take action necessary to deal with a communicable disease that poses a serious threat to the College community. The President may appoint an advisory committee consisting of the Vice President for Instruction, Student Services & Community Services, the Assistant Dean of Health Occupations, a Student Services counselor, a faculty member appointed by the Faculty Council, and a representative from District Health Department 4. This committee may recommend a course of action following a review of the case and current materials regarding the disease. All persons involved in the review process will treat all proceedings, deliberations, and documents as strictly confidential.
8. The President will be the College spokesperson for public information about issues related to serious communicable diseases. In consultation with the College legal counsel and the Assistant Dean of Health Occupations, the President will determine information that is appropriate for public dissemination.
9. The Assistant Dean of Health Occupations will have available for students and employees current educational materials regarding reportable communicable diseases.