Weekly health clinic to be held in Cobb Hall
Injured or ill students will now have another health service resource on campus aside from Foust Hall.
University Health Services will host a once-a-week clinic in Cobb Hall to accommodate students who live on south campus, especially the Towers, which houses 33 percent of students living on campus.
“The whole point of this is that we want to be where the students are. We want to make it easier for them, and this mini-clinic is just what students who live in the Towers need,” said Cal Seelye, assistant director of Residence Life. “Nobody will be turned away. Students who live here don’t want to walk to Foust. We don’t want any student walking through campus with a temperature of 103 degrees. That’s not healthy, and this will help prevent that from happening.”
The clinic is in Cobb Hall Room 103 and will be open from 8:30 a.m. to noon Mondays starting next week.
The room used to house two graduate assistants, but has been nearly vacant for the last four years.
Nobody occupied the room last year, Seelye said, giving administrators a chance to create the medical suite down the hall from students’ rooms on the first floor.
The one-bedroom residence hall room was transformed into a two-room office with a bathroom. The project cost less than $1,000, Seelye said. The facility used existing furniture and staff, and the only newly-funded project costs included hardwood floor installation and a medical curtain.
There will be one doctor, a nurse and a secretary at the location, all of which are employed with University Health Services.
“Because it’s right there in the Towers, students will be able to come right down without a hitch,” said Dr. Sarah Yonder, physician at the University Health Services.
Students do not need to make an appointment, but may have to upon arrival, depending on how many students are waiting. Students also can schedule appointments to fit them in between classes.
“A student may come in and we could be with another patient. Not a problem, actually, we could take down their name and room phone number and they can go back and sleep, eat or do whatever they need in their own bedroom until we are ready,” said Loretta Moran, University Health Services assistant director of patient services. “It’s kind of like a house call, plus they can come down here in their pajamas. What other clinic can say that?”
Moran said students can come in for a number of check-ups: general urgent care, sore throat, cough, eye infections or urinary tract infections — all of which can be diagnosed and treated in Cobb Hall.
Seelye said he does not expect a large influx of students using the service until late October or early November when the temperatures drop and snow starts to settle. That is flu season, he said, and that is when they expect an upswing of patients.
The Cobb Hall location will be able to bill insurances on- site as well.
“It’s kind of a hidden treasure,” Moran said. “Almost nobody has health care right in their house.”
