Every semester students are eligible for free health services, such as, chiropractic services, psychological counseling, and STD tests Monday through Friday at the Health Center located in the Pool Building.
Dean of Health Sciences and Athletics, Rory Natividad, said that although the Health Center is limited due to lack of space and staff, they service up to 25,000 EC students and are also available for EC Compton student use.
“(Services for) asthma, general medical, check ups, flu shots, and chiropractics (are provided)” Natividad said. “It’s not a fully functional urgent care center, it’s a student health center, but we have a lot to offer students.”
Supported solely by the $19 semesterly student health fee, the Student Health Services (SHS) encourages students to take advantage of the services and workshops offered for students to maintain good health both physically and mentally.
Although the health center is available to students Monday through Friday, the hours of operation vary from nine hours on some days to only four hours on others.
The hours of operation are centered around when the Health Center can service the most students, but when it does close there are STD checks or chiropractic care, Natividad said.
Joshua Keeler, 22, music major said he’s only gone into the health center once, but he found the experience to be awkward.
“It was cold and awkwardly silent the whole time,” Keeler said,” I got what I needed, but it seemed like everyone one was busy.”
Natividad said that the current health center staff consist of five full-time employees, but has a number of part-time nurses and chiropractors available.
“The two full-time staff practitioners, which are the ones that serve the students, can only work so many contact hours with the students a week,” Natividad said. “We spread their hours so we can have both of them on the premises at the same time.”
In addition the Health Center offers psychological services to help students with issues ranging from anger management to behavioral intervention.
“We’ve increased the hours of our psychological service and have a full time psycologist,” Natividad said. “Not full-time in the Health Center, but Dr. Jan Schaeffer helps with the Assessment, Intervention, and Management of Safety (AIMS) team.”
Natividad said that AIMS and the other psychological programs are a great opportunity for students to get professional help.
Brittany Williams, 19, communications major, said she enjoyed her first visit to the health center.
“Everyone has been really nice,” said Willams,” I can tell they don’t really have that many people working there, but I could tell they we’re doing their best to help me.”
Natividad said that with the development and planning of the new Student Activities Building, there is a possibility that the Student Health Center staff could expand.
“As the new Student Activities Building is being built it has been decided that the Health Center will become apart of it and that might give us room to expand with more rooms and services,” Natividad said.
More information about the Student Health Center’s services and hours of operation are available on their official website.
