Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Norovirus at Edgefield Pub

Edgefield McMenamins: Better bring a bucket...
I don't suppose I ever was much of a fan of McMenamin's Brewery. The beer is inconsistent, sometimes good, sometimes passable, but often wretched. And the food is poor.

Well, my ill disposition toward McMenamin's has been thoroughly cemented now, punctuated by a nasty illness I contracted from partaking of its cuisine at the Edgefield Pub.

My employer scheduled an off-site meeting at Edgefield for the dates of November 12 through November 14th. Coworkers arrived from various points around the globe, including India, Egypt, and the United Kingdom in order to participate. During this event, we held seminars and creative sessions to determine how to enhance our profession as writers. Many of us stayed at the Edgefield and we all partook of the cuisine throughout the three days.

Well, the night of Wednesday, November 14th, I was home, seated at my computer when, out of the blue, I thought "I think I'm going to be sick." Guess what? I was right. That night was a hellish eternity of nausea, chills, and diarrhea. I called in sick to work on the morning of the 15th and spent the entire day miserably trying to retain fluids. When I returned to work, still shaky, on the 16th, I learned that as many as 16 other people were experiencing the same symptoms. One person was even hospitalized.

Suspicion immediately fell upon the Edgefield kitchen, but the issue remained in doubt until I saw this in yesterday's Oregonian:
Luncheon attendees suffer viral outbreak
The Multnomah County Health Department has traced an outbreak of illness suffered by more than two dozen people to a virus that was apparently spread at a luncheon sponsored by the Port of Portland at a Troutdale restaurant, a department official said Monday.

Hai Ta, clinical nursing supervisor in the Multnomah County Disease Control Office, said about 30 people became ill after the Nov. 14 luncheon at McMenamins Edgefield. She said the victims suffered vomiting and diarrhea for a day or two and that all have recovered.

The cause was a Norwalk-like virus, a common virus that is most prevalent during cold, winter weather, Hai Ta said. She said the virus is most often spread by an infected food handler and that one restaurant employee suffered similar symptoms two days before the lunch.
Well, that pretty much settles it, in my mind. If you are not familiar with the Norovirus, you can read up on it here. This virus is the one that occasionally makes headlines with the outbreaks that occur on cruise ships. I can tell you that it is something you will want to avoid. And, for me, that means avoiding Edgefield and other McMenamins pubs.

3 comments:

Shus li said...

I'm sorry you went through that!

It's interesting that you had to find out what was going on by reading the newspaper instead of being notified by Mc's or the County that you and your entire party were exposed.

As visiting nurses we run into this norovirus almost yearly. We are very, very nervous when it raises its ugly head. Two years ago a number of nursing homes were quarantined due to noro. For a young(-ish!), healthy person like you, it's just misery; for an elderly debilitated person, it can be a death sentence.

Say, there's a place I noticed on Powell called "The Bucket Brigade." Do you spoze that's owned by mc's....

Ridwan said...

Hey brother Dade I am indeed sorry to hear of your ordeal.

I share your opinion of McMenamins food and beer quality. And the service at the one close to PSU is awful

Two days a few students from my classes at PSU had a little going-away send off for me there.

Except for two young ladies, the rest were all students of color.

After a little while the server kept coming by to say that the group was too "loud", or that the language was inappropriate.

I thought this an unusual vigilance.

Finally, they decided to ask us to leave. No reason given. Just tallied up the bill which was over $200 for a short visit.

And we were gone. Most, if not all, the students saw this as a case of racial insensitivity.

I was struck by it until I remembered a few years ago when the same thing happened there with a group of students of color.

Now I expect that the staff are told to watch students closely given the proximity to PSU.

Fair enough.

But this watchful eye was hardly balanced from the time the kids rolled up.

Outside of my grad assistant and me, all the rest were young women and hardly so noisy to have this drastic kind of action directed at them.

So here I am under very different circumstances with a vow never to support McMenamins anywhere for more than jusy what happened on Thursday early afternoon.

I hope you are fully recovered.

Peace,
Ridwan

ps. I had a graduate student a few years ago who worked for them somewhere who refused to eat or drink any of their stuff. He complained of unfair labor practices and cleanliness issues. He quit in disgust.

Ridwan said...

Hey brother Dade I am indeed sorry to hear of your ordeal.

I share your opinion of McMenamins food and beer quality. And the service at the one close to PSU is awful

Two days a few students from my classes at PSU had a little going-away send off for me there.

Except for two young ladies, the rest were all students of color.

After a little while the server kept coming by to say that the group was too "loud", or that the language was inappropriate.

I thought this an unusual vigilance.

Finally, they decided to ask us to leave. No reason given. Just tallied up the bill which was over $200 for a short visit.

And we were gone. Most, if not all, the students saw this as a case of racial insensitivity.

I was struck by it until I remembered a few years ago when the same thing happened there with a group of students of color.

Now I expect that the staff are told to watch students closely given the proximity to PSU.

Fair enough.

But this watchful eye was hardly balanced from the time the kids rolled up.

Outside of my grad assistant and me, all the rest were young women and hardly so noisy to have this drastic kind of action directed at them.

So here I am under very different circumstances with a vow never to support McMenamins anywhere for more than jusy what happened on Thursday early afternoon.

I hope you are fully recovered.

Peace,
Ridwan

ps. I had a graduate student a few years ago who worked for them somewhere who refused to eat or drink any of their stuff. He complained of unfair labor practices and cleanliness issues. He quit in disgust.