This week I’m bringing my opinion a little closer to home – well, to our home away from home. At UPS, for those of us who live on campus, aches, pains and sniffles mean a trip to CHWS. I’ll start this on a positive note. There are plenty of absolutely wonderful things about CHWS – proximity to campus housing, an excellent counseling program, and who could forget the ever-appreciated free condoms? Yet I find myself incredibly disappointed at something I’ve heard.
A close friend of mine, who has asked to remain anonymous, paid a visit to CHWS last week. She had been experiencing excruciating back pain, and hobbled over after class. By the time she uncomfortably sat down in the waiting room, she was in tears.
Now, I would think that, were an incoming patient sitting in my waiting room sobbing, my first inclination would not be to announce that she had to leave because it was lunch hour.
I completely support lunch breaks, but I also support compassion, and to turn a student without the means of getting to another doctor’s office away because a bowl of split pea soup is waiting downstairs seems a little ridiculous. One could argue that calling security and asking for a ride to the hospital could have been an option if the pain were that bad, but a quick trip to CHWS to verify that the impending hospital bill is necessary seems like a logical first step.
It’s enough that students have to practically schedule their illnesses, (weekends are not open and Tuesday appear to have the longest schedule), but now open hours don’t apply? It would be different if the patient had a head cold. But pain that moves an adult to tears in public is on a different level.
The majority of students I’ve spoken with don’t consider CHWS a primary source of healthcare. While that seems reasonable, as it is not an official doctor’s office, it would appear to me that the assistance offered should be more accommodating, especially for undergraduate students, many of whom live on campus and lack vehicles to get around the greater Tacoma community.
Back to the story – after the all-important lunch hour came to a close, my friend was seen by one of CHWS’s healthcare professionals, who suggested some muscle relaxers and a trip to someone who could actually help, perhaps even some X-Rays. This consultation was short, and it affirmed what she already knew, but it could have happened an hour earlier without breaking too far into the lunch break.
I don’t think anyone expects the services on campus to be anything spectacular. No one expects the S.U.B. to be a five star gourmet establishment; no one expects Diversions to serve high tea or for the Fieldhouse to offer services from Hollywood’s finest personal trainers. But even an on-campus Health and Wellness center can have a little bedside manner.