Working For Your Wellbeing

By Maddy McCarty and Breann Robinson

Brittney Robinson, a sophomore chemistry major from Wheeler, Texas, recalls being so sick one day she could barely stand up by herself.

“I called the wellness center on campus, and they said they couldn’t get me in for another week,” Robinson said. “I told the operator that I was really sick. … She told me to go to another clinic.”

After a visit to Freedom Clinic that same day, Robinson, with a temperature of 102.3, was diagnosed with strep throat and a case of the flu.

“I don’t know what would have happened if I had waited for an appointment at the wellness center,” Robinson said.

The Texas Tech University Student Wellness Center, built in 2007 to accommodate Tech’s growing enrollment, has six full-time care providers licensed to evaluate and treat patients, according to Kelly Bennett, medical director of Student Health Services. With Tech’s fall 2015 enrollment of almost 36,000 students, the center’s staff translates to approximately 0.17 health-care providers per 1,000 students.

Similar levels of physician density have been observed in Third-World countries, such as Angola and Zambia, show data from the World Health Organization. However, the ratio is well below the U.S. average of 2.45 physicians per 1,000 people.

Maddy McCarty/The Hub@TTU

The Student Wellness Center was built in 2007. Maddy McCarty/The Hub@TTU

One junior media strategies major from Marion, Texas, remembers a time when the Student Wellness Center was not able to book an appointment soon enough for his sickness.

Bret Brown said he woke up one night in his dorm and could not breathe because his throat was clogged with mucus. After taking a warm shower and unclogging his throat, he called the clinic first thing in the morning.

“They could not take me that day, so I had to wait 24 hours before I could go to my appointment,” Brown said. “Also because of how sick I was, I was not sleeping very well, so I woke up late for my appointment.”

After arriving five minutes late to his appointment, Brown said he was turned away and told to reschedule. He said 48 hours after the first call he made, he was treated and given the medicine he needed to start recovering from his sinus infection.

Maddy McCarty/The Hub@TTU

The Student Wellness Center can prescribe prescriptions if need be. Maddy McCarty/The Hub@TTU

“I felt like it was a very long period of time and a lot of hoops that I had to go through as the student who was sick,” Brown said, “in order to be treated here at the university health clinic.”

He has not returned to the Student Wellness Center since this experience and now uses an off-campus clinic. He said the system could be improved if students could be seen on a walk-in basis, which may require a larger facility.

“I won’t say that the clinic didn’t do their job,” Brown said. “I just felt like the system of getting in and actually getting an appointment is ridiculous. It’s way too slow to treat people.”

Full-time Texas Tech students pay $75 each semester as a fee for medical services, regardless of whether they use the Wellness Center.

“I know the services are included in our student fees, but what good comes from it if you have to wait that long for an appointment?” Robinson asked.

For routine issues such as headaches, birth control or high blood pressure, wait times range from one day to one week, Bennett said. In cases of acute illness or injury, appointments can be assigned for the next day or same day. Students can also be evaluated on a walk-in basis by a triage nurse, who can recommend treatment at home, a visit with a physician or even a trip to the emergency room.

Kaitlin Bain, a senior journalism major from Houston, Texas, said she has visited the center at least six or seven times throughout her time at Texas Tech and has nothing but positive things to say about her experiences.

Every time she calls the wellness center, Bain said, she is usually able to get an appointment the very same day, and her time in the waiting room has never been more than 10 minutes.

“I don’t know why other people are complaining,” Bain said. “The wait time at the wellness center is the same amount of time you would wait at an urgent-care clinic or any other doctor’s office.”

Maddy McCarty/The Hub@TTU

The Student Wellness Center also has a pharmacy. Maddy McCarty/The Hub@TTU

Bennett said most students arrive and leave within an hour, but during flu season and the height of the semester, the wait for the triage nurse can be up to two hours.

Over 200 patients can be served by the Student Wellness Center each day during the school year, according to Bennett. This includes students’ appointments with physicians, triage visits, getting vaccinations, Raider Assistance Program, and counseling sessions provided by Texas Tech’s dietitian.

A Texas Public Information Act request filed by The Hub@TTU revealed more than 15,000 prescriptions were filled at Texas Tech’s pharmacy in the fiscal year of 2015. So whether students believe their needs are being met or not, the Student Wellness Center is busy treating students every Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

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