Health and Wellness Center disappointing

USU Health and Wellness Center a point of frustration for some students

By Chase Christensen

Long lines and the lack of available appointments have some students increasingly dissatisfied by what their student fees pay for.

Students are charged a health fee each semester to fund the center. It is then available to students as frequently as needed and offers examinations and consultations, according to Dr. Jim Davis, a doctor who works at the center. The only things that students are required to pay for are additional tests such as blood work, X-rays and occasionally supplies, he said.

The services are also offered to the immediate family of a student, such as a spouse or children.

“We do our best to get everyone in,” Davis said, “We see between 80 to 100 students a day and we never turn anyone away, most are treated that same day. We will even stay late if we need to; we know why we are here.”

He added that the center is more sensitive to students' school schedules and will usually see students within a couple of days, only putting off appointments to work around other scholastic obligations.

The center deals exclusively with students, giving it considerable experience in the area.

“I like to believe that students come to us because we know them and their problems,” Davis said. “Not just because they are worried about the expense.”

Some students said that they found it hard to believe that the center works hard to adapt to their needs.

“That place is a joke,” said Jennifer David, a student who recently used the center. “It took them forever to get me in and then the only thing they did was tell me to give it a couple of days and come back if I wasn’t getting better.”

The visit was of little help and hardly worth the hours of waiting, she said.

Others complained about being treated for unrelated issues.

“Every time I go there they tell me I have asthma,” said Jared Clark, a USU student that used the center. “It didn’t even make sense. I was there for a dislocated finger.”

But Davis maintains that the center is doing the best it can with the resources it has.

“We have our limits but we try to use our resources to their fullest extent,” Davis said.

The Student Health and Wellness Center will be moved into the new Aggie Recreation Center, which is projected to be finished in the fall of 2015, in hopes of making the center’s services more convenient to students, Davis said.