The Seahawk

Issue date: 9/25/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Jennie Klahre | THE SEAHAWK An increase of residential students on campus this year and additional advertising contributes to the influx of patients at the Student Health Center in Westside Hall.

Only two months into the school year, the Abrons Student Health Center has already seen an increase of students seeking medical attention; however, according to Katrin Wesner, director of the health center, the increase of students is not due to an enlarged rate of sickness on campus, but an increase of usage of the health center.

The health center had 13,700 visits from students last year. "[The] 2007-2008 year was 8 percent busier than 2006-2007 and [the] 2006-2007 was 19 percent busier than 2005-2006," Wesner said.

The increase in visits to the health center is due to several reasons. There is an amplified number of residential students this year living in Seahawk Village, Seahawk Landing, Belk and Graham/Hewlett. And students on campus are more likely to use the health facility than those living off campus.

"If a roommate has something, it provokes concern with the other roommate," lead nurse Mary Dandridge said. "So they will come in for confirmation on what to do. [And with] more students to a room, two people are concerned as opposed to one."

The second reason can be attributed to the increase of advertising the health center has done this year.

"We have done a lot more marketing, so people are more aware of our services," Wesner said.

Also, the expectation of families is higher. They anticipate that the health center will be able to provide for their children attending UNCW.

While there has not been a trend in common sicknesses among students, the health center does expect first year students to get between two and nine colds throughout the school year.

"Part of why first year students come in the most is because they are starting to take charge of their own health care," Wesner said.

Freshmen become sick due to a change in routine, exposure to a greater germ pool, change in eating and sleeping habits and an increase in stress.

Therefore, the facility is visited most by freshmen. According to Dandridge, another reason for this is that they are not sure what to take when they get sick so they go to the health center for confirmation on medication.

In order to stay healthy, students should do what they can to take care of themselves as much as possible. They should get a good night's sleep, eat a balanced diet, drink non-alcoholic fluids, exercise and get a flu shot.

Wesner believes that the most important thing that students should do is to wash their hands frequently.

The health center is a walk-in clinic, excluding physicals, women health exams, and allergy shots. They are the busiest between 11:45 a.m. and 1:45 p.m., so practitioners encourage students to come early.

They have a lab and a pharmacy and the majority of their student visits are for coughs, colds, strains and sprains, but they also do STI (sexually transmitted infections) testing and diagnose one or two cases of cancer each year.

Wesner believes that students should come to the health center before going off campus because they are convenient, on campus and focused on college health.

"I think that students should come here first. Each student pays a health center fee so they might as well take advantage of it," Wesner said.

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