news // no. 4

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Students mostly satisfied with Douglas

» Province-wide graduate survey reveals that life at Douglas College is good

 

Syphilis 1s back

>» BC experiencing the highest rates in the last 30 years

Atiba Nelson
Staff Reporter

 

Aine to the Public Health Agency
of Canada, infectious syphilis rates are
increasing. Currently, the overall rate of
syphilis among the Canadian public is 10.6
per 100, 000 people.

With the overall rate increasing,
British Columbia has experienced an
increase as well, with the number of cases
in the province besting the national rate.

“There were 919 new cases of
infectious syphilis in BC in 2018, a rate
of 18.4 per 100,000. This represents a 33
[percent] increase from 2017,’ according
toa press release available on the British
Columbia Centre for Disease Control
(BCCDC) website.

Although BC is third among Canadian
provinces and territories, Nunavut (260.9
per 100,000), and Mantioba (17.6 per 100,
000), are first and second respectively.

The spike in the infectious syphilis rates
are worrying public health officials in the
province.

Recently, Dr. Bonnie Henry, the
Provincial Health Officer, alerted the
public about the risks of infectious syphilis
and the need to be proactive in detection
and treatment of the disease.

Public health surveillance highlights
that the disease disproportionately affects
bisexual and gay men, but the rates of
infectious syphilis have also been rising in
the female population of the province.

Because of the increase among
females, Perinatal Services BC, with
guidance from the BCCDC, released new
syphilis screening recommendations
for pregnant females. The new
recommendations call for screening in
the first trimester and again at delivery.
The twice-a-pregnancy screening aims to
decrease a potentially the developmentally
harmful disease, congenital syphilis, which
occurs when a mother who is infected
with syphilis passes the disease on to her
newborn.

Syphilis is a treatable sexual
transmitted infection (STI) caused by
the bacterium Treponema pallidum. The
symptoms are similar to other STIs, but
change depending on the stage of the
disease.

In the primary stage, a painless sore
(called a chancre) may appear on the
mouth, anus, or genital area. The most
contagious stage is the secondary stage—
roughly 2 to 12 weeks after infection—
where a skin rash can appear. At this stage,
syphilis can be spread through sexual
contact or contact with any area where the
rash appears.

It’s important to note that syphilis can
be treated with antibiotics—but testing
for, and diagnosis of the disease is needed
before treatment is started.

Douglas College students living within
the Fraser Health Authority boundaries can
access testing and treating services through
several clinics in the area.

Photo by Billy Bui

Atiba Nelson
Staff Reporter

 

he results are in! Each year the

Government of British Columbia,
through a partnership between the
Ministry of Advanced Education, Skills and
Training, and BC Statistics, surveys post-
secondary graduates to explore graduates’
satisfaction with their education.

The results from the last survey year
are available online, and they give insight to
graduates’ perceptions of their institution.

A total of 14,754 respondents
answered the survey, with a majority of the
respondents being female, at 53 percent.
The average age of a graduate was 25 years
old, and of the sample almost 60 percent
were working—with close to 40 percent
taking more classes after graduation.

Since Douglas College offers two types
of degrees, graduates of the college receive
a survey corresponding to the type of
degree received. In the last sampling year,
BC Stats and the Ministry of Advanced
Education sampled graduates who earned
a diploma, or an associate's degree or
certificate—and made those results
available.

The Douglas sample of students is one
year younger than the overall average (24),
and includes more females than males,

63 percent vs 36 percent respectively.
Most Douglas graduates responded that
they were working (73 percent), but of
that group, many claimed that they were

».

working and studying, and overall more
than half of the Douglas respondents were
enrolled in further studies post-graduation.

Generally, Douglas graduates were
satisfied with their time spent at college,
with an outstanding 94 percent of
Douglas graduates claiming that they were
“satisfied with their education” for 2017.
For comparison, graduates’ satisfaction
with Douglas outpaced the provincial
graduate average of 92 percent, and bested
the lowest satisfaction score—Emily Carr
University of Art and Design—by over ten
percent.

However, not everything is rosy at
Douglas, and the survey also provided
a chance for respondents to pitch
improvements to their alma mater and
Douglas graduates had something to say.

Fifty-one percent of the sample
was ambivalent as to whether a Douglas
education prepared them for future
studies, and only 35 percent of respondents
believed that their Douglas education was
useful in getting a job.

In terms of employment after
college, Douglas has one of the lowest
unemployment rates among provincial
diploma, associate's degree, or certificate
granting institutions at 6.7 percent. The
provincial average for unemployment is 9.2
percent.

Next year’s survey will likely yield
the same results, since Douglas has not
undergone dramatic programmatic
changes.

Illustration by Morgan Hannah and coloured by Janis McMath