Health and Wellness Center offers cheap, quality care

The round structure enclosed by a cinder block wall near the stoplight outside of the Public Affairs and Art building holds the Student Health and Wellness Center.

Inside, students can find great deals for their health care needs including check ups, preventative medicine and some urgent care.

“Our job is to keep students in school, keep them healthy,” said Jayne Nelson, Health and Wellness Center director.

The center specializes in treating acute ambulatory conditions.

“If you get sinusitis, a sore throat or a sprain, we can evaluate and treat that. If it is beyond what we can do, we will refer you to a specialist,” said Nelson.

Students do not need insurance to use the health center.

“That is the most common misconception students have,” she said. “Everything except contraceptives are covered 100 percent.”

Should a student need to be referred to a specialist outside of the center, insurance would pick up the percentage allowed by the plan.

“If we’re having a bad run on the flu, we may have to prescribe out, but student insurance will reimburse with a $5 co-pay,” said Nelson.

Full fee-paying students have access to the center for a $5 fee. Other students pay an access fee of $25.

“Last year, we had an increase of 2,000 patient visits, that’s over last year’s number,” said Nelson. “Our challenge is to find the wherewithal to meet the demand.”

The center has physicians, physician’s assistants and nurse practitioners on staff.

The center prefers students to call and make appointments for consultation in order to meet scheduling needs.

“We do that so we can match students with the staff and experience of the providers,” said Nelson.

Students don’t have to suffer while waiting for an appointment in the event of an emergency, however.

“If there is an urgent condition like bad abdominal pain and a fever, you don’t have to wait,” said Nelson. “We won’t turn people away.”

The center is the only accredited facility among Idaho universities and is among less than 150 providers on campuses around the country.

“It is not mandatory to be accredited,” said Nelson. “But it tells the public we do quality health care, and helps to improve our services.”

The center also provides wellness education to students. Along with extensive printed literature available in the waiting rooms, the staff is available for consultation.

The center works together with the counseling center to offer mental health care as well.

The Counseling Center is located on the sixth floor of the Education Building. It is staffed by professional counselors and psychologists.

“They help with relationship issues, test anxiety, stress, and eating problems,” said Nelson.

The health educator position in the Health Center is vacant. The administration is currently looking for someone new.

At present, the Counseling Center does most of the wellness education.

In the center, “wellness education is happening, we just have to do it with patients when we see them and go about it a different way,” said Nelson.

Nelson sees the job of the center is to educate.

“It is important to teach people the preventative side, that way we won’t have to see them for care,” she said.

Matt Neznanski

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