Throughout their time at UB, students are bound to encounter health issues around each and every corner. Luckily, whether the issue is the common cold or something more serious, help can be found at polar opposites with services available on both North and South campuses.
Michael Hall on South Campus provides routine physician visits and immunizations, but students can visit the office for a wide variety of physical problems or even if they aren't feeling well.
"They do a full range of what a doctor's office would do," said Susan Snyder, director of Health Services. "If someone comes in here not feeling well, we do a full range of testing, the doctors are going to go through everything and test from the top of your head down to your feet."
The cost of seeing an on campus doctor is free for students and is covered under the Comprehensive Fee, which is included in tuition costs.
Students do, however, have to pay for any immunizations or shots they receive while at the doctors, according to Snyder. They also need to make appointments ahead of time to ensure timely assistance.
Students can walk in to Michael Hall, but they will have to wait for the next available opening, which takes anywhere between 15 minutes and three hours, according to Snyder.
The office is open from 8:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Mondays, and Tuesday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
"All of our services are offered here in Michael Hall," Snyder said. "The first floor of the building is where a majority of the offices are and the tests are taken. We have a professional staff that takes care of all the students."
The staff consists of five fulltime and one part time physician, each of which is board certified. All of the nurse practitioners and physician assistants are certified and registered in the state of New York.
"We are a professional office," Snyder said. "Not just a high school nurses office, we are a well qualified and professional staff."
For students who aren't sick, but have questions about sex, relationships or women's health concerns, SBI health education is the place to start.
"We offer a number of services," said Jane Fischer, director of SBI Health Education. "We offer STI testing, free pregnancy testing and we also provide counseling sessions for each."
SBI Health Education also performs one-on-one or group session educational workshops, according to Fischer. Whether it's a sexual health or relationship issue, counselors will address people alone and in groups at a residence hall, fraternity or sorority house.
According to Fischer, the most requested workshops are STI Jeopardy and Eroticizing Safer Sex (ESS). STI Jeopardy is an interactive true or false session about STIs and creates a fun learning environment that acts like a myth-buster.
"ESS is a really fun interactive game as well," Fischer said. "This is our most popular workshop, we talk about different ways safer sex can become a part of your life and covers everything from communicating with your partner, making safer sex fun for both partners and taking steps to prevent pregnancy and STIs."
If given enough notice, the workshops can be tailored more precisely to whatever people have in mind, according to Fischer.
"We can generally meet the need of any group, if we are given enough time," Fischer said. "If we don't have what people are looking for, we can try to get it."
SBI Health Services is located on South Campus in Hayes Annex C, students can drop by, call or e-mail any sex or relationship based questions.
Students with questions about dieting and health can drop by the Health and Wellness Center located in 114 Student Union.
"We provide wellness services to students," said Dr. Sherri Darrow, director of Wellness Education Services. "We also provide health education, promotion services and we help students with smoking, alcohol and other drug problems as well."
Students can make an appointment to meet with an exercise science specialist who will measure blood pressure, hand strength, flexibility and recovery heart rate after exercise and then make a prescription based on the results.
"What we would like to see is the students moving around more," Darrow said. "We have a walking club, fitness hour and yoga classes and all of those pieces help to encourage students to become healthy."
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
