Past the lake and tucked away in the corner of campus is a place students and faculty may find themselves hobbling towards with twisted ankles, complaints of stomach aches, or maybe just high hopes of getting out of class.
It’s the Milner Student Health & Counseling Center.
As with most services on campus, there are mixed feelings about its helpfulness and accessibility. It seems, however, that there are more complaints than praise when it comes to people’s overall experiences at the Health Center.
Why is that exactly? A lack of proper care? Scheduling restraints? An unwelcoming environment? Organizational issues?
Apparently, depending on whom you ask, it could be a matter of one — or all — of these issues. Quite frankly, the Student Health Center needs to step up its game.
Senior Taylor Shaw, for example, feels disappointed with the services the Student Health Center provided — or lack thereof.
“One time, I spilled boiling water all over myself, and I was in serious pain, and my friend ran to the Student Health Center for help, and they refused to come help me,” said Shaw. “I was outraged. It was a serious situation and they should have taken the responsibility as health-care providers at this school to provide help.”
Shaw isn’t the only one frustrated by the lack of treatment she received.
“I went to the health center because I had been coughing up blood, and they told me it was just allergies,” says junior Alejandro Salcedo. “But when I went to an actual physician, it turned out to be a serious medical condition.”
In addition to diagnostic conflicts, many students feel irritated by not being able to be treated by the nurse practitioner. Without the proper diagnosis and treatment, it almost seems pointless to even haul your sick butt all the way to the Health Center in the first place.
In response to these complaints, Director of Student Health Helen Rice explains that the amount of time they have a nurse practitioner is pretty standard.
“In the nine years I’ve been here, we haven’t had (a nurse practitioner) full time,” said Rice in a phone interview. “It’s very expensive to have them full time. Most small colleges across North Carolina only have them intermittently, depending on where they are in location to doctor’s offices or clinics. Most run pretty much like we do.”
Obviously, Rice agrees that it would be preferable to have a nurse practitioner around all of the time, but it just isn’t possible, and those who work in the center have no control over that.
There are other issues, however, that they do have control over that are not being properly addressed. For instance, I have heard several students complain about a lack of organization. One student reported that the center lost all of her paper work.
Others have felt unwelcomed and neglected when going to the center. A sophomore, who wished to remain anonymous, felt extremely discouraged by the lack of help she received from the Student Health Center.
“I’d been throwing up, hadn’t slept for three days, had incredible headaches, and couldn’t swallow, but since the nurse practitioner wasn’t there, and I didn’t have a fever, I wasn’t able to get a note for class,” said the anonymous sophomore. “I said, ‘You have to help me out … my teacher knows I’m sick, she just wants proof that I came.’
“I asked if I could just get a handwritten note saying I was here, and she closed the door in my face while I was crying. I begged for help and was rudely told to go to urgent care, which was useless because I physically couldn’t even walk there. It was so unhelpful and uncomforting.”
No system is ever perfect, but it definitely seems like some serious improvements should be made in order to make the community feel happier and healthier. Isn’t that what the Health Center stands for in the first place?
