Health 101

Every month each Southern student receives an email from the health center about the monthly health magazine. I browse through it when I have a free moment, but I never took the time to actually read it.  This week in Inquiry class, as I mentioned in my previous blog, one group discussed nutrition on campus. As part of their research, they went to the health center on campus to get information.  And some information they shared was really fascinating. So for this week’s safari I decided to visit the health center and find out some more information. I guess you can say the presentation inspired me to visit the health center. (Thanks for the motivation).

So I took a trip down to the Health Center (which was closer than I thought. I thought I would have to go out of my way to find this place, but it’s actually right by my friend’s dorm).  I had no idea how much the Health Center has to offer. From the presentation, I learned that you can make an appointment with a nutritionist to have a workout/diet plan made out. This is pretty awesome and I had no idea Southern offered this service. I also learned from the presentation that Conn Hall will make the food that you need for your diet and they will help you with portion control if you make a request to any chef. I always thought that Conn Hall was the enemy. With all that variety of food and it being buffet style, it’s hard not to go crazy. But there are ways to control yourself and not gain the dreaded freshman 15.

But they offer more than just diet and exercise services. They have a bunch of vaccines you can receive for free or cheap. For example: free HIV, gonorrhea, and chlamydia tests. Mumps, measles, hepatitis A, etc. tests for $20. Pregnancy tests for $5 and Plan B for $25. And many more tests and services for equally low prices. Another cool thing that Southern does is loan out crutches and canes. I love this fact because I am a klutz and will most likely fall and break/fracture/sprain/have surgery on some part of my body and will probably need to borrow a pair of crutches because I have no idea where my pair is. I’ve broken/sprained/fracture/had surgery on at least eight different regions of my body multiple times so I can almost guarantee that I will need crutches at one point in my college career.

And the Health Center is like a real doctor’s office. They have appointments and if you’re late you’ll have to reschedule. Of course they respect the doctor-patient relationship and value the confidentiality. This place overall has a lot more than I first expected. It’s more than just a place to get advise on diets and exercise.