Past the Art Building and just before the pool, there is a “hidden treasure” that a lot of students may not know about; this treasure is the Student Health Center.

There are many services this facility offers, which may serve as a real commodity for the student on the go.

“Let’s say that you wake up one morning and you have the flu. You don’t want to go to your own doctor because you can’t miss class; you can just come to the Health Center,” Debbie Conover, Health Services coordinator and registered nurse, said.

With a $10-per-semester fee and financial aid for those in need, the Health Center has a number of services, including chiropractic services, physician consultation, psychological counseling and group seminars, and HIV and chlamydia testing on Tuesdays, 1 to 4 p.m.

“You can come in anytime you want; all you need to show is a student ID and must be enrolled in the school,” Conover said.

There are also free workshops to help people with specific problems such as, test anxiety, anger management, understanding depression and anxiety disorders. Times and dates for these workshops can all be found in the Health Center.

Despite the Health Center’s many services, there are concerns that not enough students know of its existence.

“I absolutely don’t think that a lot of the students know we are here. I try to get out to the classrooms and send memos to the teachers at the beginning of the semester,” Conover said.

“I had no idea that we had a Health Center on campus,” Danny Edwards, undecided major, 20, said.

The Health Center is a professional clinic with a professional staff ready to help students in any way that they can. Services are confidential and rules are strictly enforced.

“We combine the same laws that hospitals and other medical centers do,” Conover said.

Although many students may have have access to health care through family doctors or by other means, there are advantages to visiting the Health Center instead, such as less time spent sitting in the waiting room at a lesser price, specifically.

“The average wait in here is five to fifteen minutes, where at your regular doctors it may be an hour or more to be seen, plus you will be paying a lot more money,” Conover said.

Taking care of one’s health is also an important issue, especially now that the flu season is quickly approaching and there is a shortage of flu vaccinations nationwide.

“I think that most students equate college health with what they received in high school with the school nurse taking your temperature, feeling your forehead and maybe calling your mom, but we are a full-service health care center,” Conover said.

One of the staff’s biggest concerns is keeping the Health Center open due to budget cuts. Conover said that the Health Center are an important service to the school, but she said she fears they may not be on campus for much longer.

“I don’t want to be gone before we are missed,” Conover said.

Students need to know that the center is there for them and is available whenever they are needed, Edwards said.

“I think that a lot of students come to school and take one or two classes and leave early and they don’t realize that there is a health center that they can actually go to,” Edwards said.

“We’re a hidden treasure. Don’t fall into the pool looking for the Health Center,” Conover said.

Health Center hours

Monday: 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Tuesday: 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.;
STD clinic from 1 to 4 p.m.

Wednesday: 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Thursday: 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Friday: 8:30 a.m. to noon

Appointments may be made by calling the center at (310) 660-3643.