After a two-month trial period, Dudley Coe Health Center has decided to keep its new weekend hours.
College Physician and Director of Health Services Dr. Jeff Benson was pleased with the effectiveness of the weekend hours' trial period.
"Overall, it's very successful," Benson said. "It has felt like a needed service, and it feels good to be able to offer it."
Dudley Coe will continue to be open for the rest of the semester, and weekend hours will start back up again with the beginning of the new academic year. The clinic will be open from noon to 2 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.
When the trial period first began, the hours were from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., but according to Benson, the Health Center Student Advisory Group felt that the original time frame was too early for many students.
Benson indicated that on a typical weekend day, the clinic saw a significant number of students.
"The range was three or four, and up to seven or eight per day," Benson said.
He acknowledged that the medical problems that the staff saw "tended to be more acute problems, problems that could not have waited." Among others, he listed ear infections, stomach flu, bladder infections, orthopedic injuries, colds, and bronchitis as the health issues that the clinic saw during the weekend trial period.
"Ninety-five percent of the time it was really appropriate that people came in," Benson said. He also noted that "students were very grateful."
Brittany Ogden '08 was one of many who expressed her satisfaction with the health center's weekend hours in a survey administered by the Bowdoin Women's Association (BWA).
"It was so helpful to have the health center open. I am for the weekend hours," Ogden said.
Tara D'Errico '08 agreed.
"I think [making weekend hours permanent] is an excellent idea, since students do not only get sick on weekdays," D'Errico said.
"It's nice to know that if you are sick on the weekends, you don't have to go sit in the ER for hours," she said.
Despite many successes, the weekend clinic has faced some challenges.
"The biggest [challenge] has been finding the provider staff," Benson said.
"It's hard to ask people to come in two hours on Saturday or Sunday?those two hours can really disrupt whatever plans you had for the day," he said.
Currently, there are three clinical providers in the health center that divide up the weekend schedule and are paid on an hourly basis. Benson also explained that Sandra Lide, a medical assistant and laboratory technician from Midcoast Hospital, works every Saturday and Sunday to ease the strain on the Bowdoin staff.
According to Benson, the College hopes to resolve the staff shortage problem next year by hiring two new staff members.
"The plan right now is to continue [the clinic] next year. We will have the administrative and budget support to be able to do it," Benson said.
"We're going to try to regulate the weekend schedule, and [the new staff members] will come in with the expectation that they will need to work weekend hours," he said.