Dear Students:
Welcome to Bowdoin 2006-2007, from all of us in the health services!
In this first column of the new school year, I wanted to review some of our programs and services and write a little about our sense of mission here at Dudley Coe.
The health center staff is happy to see you for a broad spectrum of primary and acute care needs. We see students by appointment, Monday through Friday, from 8:30 a.m to 5:00 p.m. More urgent medical needs are always scheduled for same-day appointments. Really urgent needs are of course always treated, well, urgently! 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 extension 3770, or stop by in person.
On weekends, we're open for urgent care services from noon to 2:00 p.m., Saturdays and Sundays. No appointments are necessary. Medical needs that could have been handled during the previous week, or that can safely wait until Monday, really should wait for Monday!
All of the care we offer at the health center is free to you. Whether you have Bowdoin's Koster Health Insurance Plan or are covered under your parents' plan, you'll have unlimited access to all of the services offered at the health center and the counseling center, free of charge. Your insurance policy will cover visits to outside providers and the emergency room, as well as most of the send-out lab tests we may order for you. Pap tests, pregnancy tests, and STD tests for both women and men, including HIV testing, are all paid for by us. To protect your privacy, they will not be billed to your Bowdoin or your family insurance.
Our in-house, formulary prescription medications are dispensed to students free of charge. Our formulary includes over 30 of the most commonly prescribed medications, from antibiotics to generic Prozac to the Emergency Contraceptive Plan B. We also have two top brands of Birth Control Pills (Cyclessa and Desogen) and the vaginal ring (Nuvaring) on our formulary, all available to you free of charge.
Prescriptions for non-formulary medications can be filled at a number of nearby community pharmacies.
Once again, this year, we have a supply of liquid nitrogen, for freezing warts, etc., and we'll continue to offer minor office surgery for moles and "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. You can also help yourself to a variety of condoms.
This year we are offering an expanded menu of vaccines. We now have the Human Papilloma Virus vaccine, Gardasil, which we strongly encourage all women to consider, at present, it's not yet approved for men?but stay tuned! It's a series of three shots, and available to you at our cost. We will soon be offering free flu shots to all students, and will be very strongly encouraging all of you to get vaccinated when the time comes. Travel vaccines, the new Tetanus-Pertussis vaccine, Hepatitis B, Polio, Measles/Mumps/Rubella, Chicken Pox, and the pneumonia and meningitis vaccines, are all also available at cost.
We've had some staffing changes over the summer. Andree Appel has left (though she'll still be helping out on some weekends). Sandy Hayes and Karen Marlin, who have been working part-time at Dudley Coe for years, are now both on our "regular" staff. And Carri Kivela, with years of college and family health experience under her belt, has also joined us.
Dr. F. Lincoln Avery, from Orthopedic Associates in Portland, will be here again this year on Monday and Wednesday mornings for orthopedic consultations. Mona Alley, R.D./L.D., will be coming to the health center on Tuesday mornings for nutrition consultations.
We are 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 poorly) we seem to be meeting them. Please feel free to contact any of us by email or phone, or fill out our web site feedback form, or stop by to chat. We will also soon be starting back up our Health Center Student Advisory Group, to address these questions longitudinally. Contact Nicole Colucci if you're interested in joining the group.
Let me say a few words about our sense of mission in the health services.
Before coming to Bowdoin, most of you were likely cared for by pediatricians, and very 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.
Finally, there's this weekly column in the Orient. It was always meant to provide an open forum for discussion about any questions or concerns you might 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, they 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