PUBLICATION: The La Roche Courier
DATE: September 1995
SECTION: Front Page

STUDENT HEALTH PROGRAM MOVED TO PASSAVANT
By Tom Interval
Staff Writer

THINGS TO KNOW AOBUT THE STUDENT HEALTH PROGRAM Hotline: 367-6359 For the best service, students should call the Student Health Program phone number and discuss their symptoms before going to Passavant’s emergency department in person. Upon entering the hospital, students can access the service by registering through the emergency department. It is important that students carry their insurance cards with them. Should there be an emergency situation in the residence halls, students should contact a resident assistant or campus security. Students requiring medication injections will be responsible for keeping their medication; however, Passavant will administer the injections at no cost. Part of the college’s $70 service fee helps pay for the program. Joyce Singletary will handle all other health issues (i.e., physicals, insurance waivers, etc.).

The La Roche College Student Health Program, the program that dictates the actions students should take when they’re ill or have an emergency, has been moved to Passavant Hospital.

With the new program in place, students can call a 24-hour hotline seven days a week to obtain medical advice and direction from a registered nurse, a certified registered nurse practitioner or a doctor if a medical problem should arise.

Students also may walk into Passavant’s emergency department between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. daily, present their La Roche College ID card and receive free medical guidance.

“We’re very excited about the opportunity to access services at Passavant,” says Joyce Singletary, dean of students. “It will provide students with a broader base of coverage and give them an opportunity to stay in their room and get some advice over the telephone as opposed to going directly to the hospital.”

Under the old program, a student would have to call the college’s registered nurse between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. on weekdays. The nurse then would make a preliminary diagnosis based on the student’s symptoms, consult a physician and then direct the student as to what action he or she should take.

“On weekends, there wasn’t any care,” says Singletary. “If [a student] was feeling bad, they would call security and security would take them to the hospital if necessary, and they would go directly into the emergency room. The minute you access the emergency room, [a nurse or a doctor] could say, ‘Oh well, you just have a bad case of gas.’ Then you get an emergency bill.”

With the new program, says Singletary, a student can describe their symptoms over the phone to a health-care professional who will tell them how to treat the problem or recommend emergency care if it is needed. This, she says, would help students avoid unnecessary visits to the emergency room and, therefore, help eliminate needless medical expenses.

“Overall, [the new program] is moving the college forward,” says Singletary. “And I think it’s good for us to be connected with a professional organization. It heightens our image in the community, and it also holds well with parents in terms of knowing that there’s a good health-care facility close by that we can network with.”