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Volume CXXXIII, Number 1 |
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A Dudley Coe welcome
JEFF BENSON, M.D.
DUDLEY COE HEALTH CENTER
Dear Students:
Welcome to Bowdoin 2003-2004, from all of us at the Health Center!
In my first column of the new year, I wanted to write a little about our sense of mission here at Dudley Coe and to review some of our programs and services.
Before coming to Bowdoin, many of you were likely cared for by pediatricians and most likely under your parents' direct and attentive supervision. You might not have had the opportunity to develop independent provider-patient relationships of your own. You might not have needed to be responsible for pursuing your own health care, and you might not have even been expected to understand your own health needs.
This is exactly what we would like to offer you: the opportunity to take charge of your own health care and needs, with as much support, information, and hopefully good advice and guidance as we can muster.
In providing health care services on campus, we try to emphasize health promotion and disease prevention. We offer preventive exams and vaccinations, sponsor health education programs, and treat acute and chronic illnesses. We hope to help you gain access to the information, resources, and services you'll want in order to understand your own health needs, to pursue your own health care, and to promote and sustain your own well-being.
Once again, this year we're able to offer all students free tetanus, pneumonia, and chickenpox vaccines. In addition, Hepatitis B, Polio, and Measles/Mumps/Rubella vaccinations are free for students 18 years of age or younger. Travel vaccines and the meningitis vaccine are available at cost, and the flu vaccine will be available soon at nominal cost.
Pap tests at the Health Center are also free, as are STD tests for both women and men, including HIV testing. For men, we'll continue to use non-invasive, urine tests for STDs.
In fact, all laboratory tests ordered at the Health Center are free of charge to students.
Our in-house, formulary prescription medications are dispensed to students free of charge. Our formulary includes over thirty of the most commonly prescribed medications-from antibiotics to generic "Prozac" and Emergency Contraception. Prescriptions for non-formulary medications can be filled at a number of nearby community pharmacies. We also carry a good generic birth control pill, which we can sell to you for $10/pack.
Once again, this year we're stocking a supply of liquid nitrogen for freezing warts, etc., and we'll continue to offer minor office surgery for "lumps and bumps."
Our "Self-Care Room" is up and running, and in it you'll find the information, diagnostic tools, and remedies to evaluate and treat- by yourselves- some of your more common ailments.
The Health Center staff is happy to see you for a broad spectrum of primary and acute care needs. We see students by appointment. More urgent medical needs are always scheduled for same day appointments. Routine physical exams, GYN exams, allergy shots, and travel consultations may be scheduled a few days out. If you want to make an appointment, please call us at x3770, or stop by in person.
Dr. Avery, from Orthopedic Associates in Portland, will be here again this year on Monday and Thursday mornings for orthopedic consultations. Mona Alley R.D./L.D. will be coming to the Health Center every two weeks for Nutrition consultations.
We are very eager to advertise our smoking cessation support efforts. If you're thinking about quitting smoking, or just want to learn more about your options, or just want to help someone else out who might be thinking of quitting, come on in!
We are also eager to hear back from you about your needs and concerns and about how well (or not!) we seem to be meeting them. We will also be starting back up our Health Center Student Advisory Group to address these questions longitudinally.
And finally, there's my weekly column in this paper. It was always meant to provide a forum for discussion about any questions and comments you may have, related to health care, public health, preventive medicine, health policy, Health Center services, or any other issues involving health or wellness. Please feel free to email me with any of these questions or comments. If published, your questions and comments would be printed anonymously, but our discussion might benefit the whole community.
Salud! To a great year together!
Jeff Benson, M.D.
Dudley Coe Health Center
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