The Student Government Campus Life Committee is launching an initiative with the Health Center to provide better health care services to the AU student body.
The joint initiative began last semester with informing students about the resources and students' rights at the Health Center. After the success of the Web site act.ausg.org in response to the low-flow showerhead controversy earlier in the semester, the Campus Life Committee decided to reformat act.ausg.org to address complaints and suggestions for improvement regarding the Health Center. At press time Wednesday, the site had not been brought back online because of technical difficulties related to the site's privacy settings. Charlie Kilby, a senator for the Class of 2009 and a member of the Campus Life Committee, said they had not yet determined when the site will be brought back online.
The Eagle previously reported that the SG established act.ausg.org as an online suggestion forum to collect feedback following student frustration that showerheads were replaced without their notice this past February.
Julie Mills, a freshman in the School of International Service and a member of the Undergraduate Senate, is leading the initiative. With three weeks left in the spring semester, the SG does not expect to accomplish goals by the end of the academic year. However, Mills said she hopes to work with the Health Center over the summer and make improvements for the fall semester.
"The first thing to accomplish is to create more awareness of how to use the Health Center and what [students] can do if they are unsatisfied," Health Center Director Daniel Bruey said about partnering with the SG.
Bruey said that currently the suggestion box in the waiting room of the Health Center serves as a means of communication with students. He said he personally checks the box at the end of each week as a way to get feedback. Since the start of the suggestion box in mid-February, Bruey has received about 200 comments.
Bruey said it is important to keep students informed to the services offered by the Health Center.
"I think we can do more to educate students on how to use the Health Center," he said.
Bruey said the wait times and responsiveness of doctors are what students seem to complain about most.
With the help of the SG, the Health Center has been trying to publicize how students can reschedule appointments. Bruey said he understands students have busy schedules.
Bruey also responded to student complaints about the Health Center misdiagnosing students.
"It is often a timing factor," he said. "A student who visits the Health Center can be tested for strep throat and the result is negative, but three or four days later the student can develop strep throat."
Zack Tyman, an SG senator-at-large and a freshman in the School of Public Affairs, said he thinks "safety and well-being is the most important for AU students."
Tyman, also a member on the Campus Life Committee, said the goal of the initiative is to gather student feedback.
"This is not an emergency situation," he said. "There are a number of stories. We are trying to see if they are true. Why they happened? Who's responsible for them"
