Student Health Services
From BeavrWiki
Being ill and not knowing what to do about it or where to go to get information on how to get better can create a stressful situation. Thanks to the Student Health Services, all of your questions or concerns about your status will be confronted at the center. If you have question about infectious diseases, STDs, or even the common cold Student Health Services will be there to provide you with the answers you have been searching for. Student Health Services is located in the Plageman Student Health Center building (opposite Weniger Hall). It is a facility that provides free service (well, covered in your student fees), and you should definitely make use of it. The quality of service is okay, and if you seriously have injured yourself, I would recommend getting a second opinion at the Good Samaritan Hospital in town. However, a free opinion never hurts.
If you have a test done, then there is a fee. For example, if the physician suspects that you may have strep throat, a throat swab test will cost about $30, but that is what you can expect from any hospital, if not more.
You do not have to make an appointment, although that will save you some time, especially if there is a line. When the Health Center is closed, there is a hot line that you can call. The service for this hot line is located in Seattle, where they have on-call physicians and nurses that can assist you on the phone. If you do take advantage of this service, they forward your information and the details pertaining to your call to Student Health Services; a administrator from SHS will usually call you the next day for a follow-up.
Contents |
Students' Self-Care Guide
Section 1-Common Health Problems
In this section there is obviously a wide variety of common health problems that we as human beings face everyday. The problem is that most common health problems are not being taken care of the right way. To take care of common health problems the right way you need to first know something about the problem, like what are the causes of it, and then you can go from there in trying to fight it. Here is a list of some common health problems stating the causes of it, signs of the problem, and symptoms of any given problem.
Abdominal Pain
As you already know the abdomen is located between the lower ribs and the pelvis that contains many vital organs. If you are experiencing abdominal pain then you might be experiencing constipation. Constipation results from not consuming enough liquids, not eating enough dietary fiber, being very inactive, and from not using laxatives correctly. Another symptom that causes abdominal pain is gastroenteritis, which is inflammation of the lining of the stomach and intestines. The causes of gastroenteritis include having an intestinal virus, food poisoning, and drinking too much contaminated water or too much alcohol.
STDs/HIV
Everyone already knows that sexually transmitted diseases(STDs) are infections that get passed from one person to the other through sexual contact(vaginal, anal, oral sex, and also genital-to-gental contact). Seventy-five percent of all STDs are passed on through persons between the ages of 15 to 24 years old. There are many STDs among us today, but the two most common for college students are chlamydia and HPV(human papilloma virus). Chlamydia is caused by different strains of the bacterium chlamydia trachiomatis. About twenty-five percent of males have few or no sighns what so ever and can still pass on the bacteria. Symptoms may show from two to four weeks after infection nd include mucous discharge from the penis, and burning and discomfort when urinating. About seventy-five percent of females also have few or no signs and can still pass it on. Like males, the symptoms show up to four weeks and include, vaginal discharge and also a burning sensation while urinating. The only good thing about this horrific bacteria, is it can be treated. It is treated with oral antibiotics and avoiding sexual intercourse with on the antibiotics. Now HPV is a little more serious. About twenty-five different types of HPV can infect the genital area. Out of that twenty-five only a few types can cause genial warts, but the other types may increase the risk for cervical cancer. Often there are no sings or symptoms, genital warts are often skin-colored, do not hurt, and can be located on someones' body in hard to see places. HPV is spread by skin to skin contact during sex. It can appear several weeks after being infected or may not show up for months or even years. This STD can be treated by creams or gels that your doctor would have to proscribe you.
Colds and Flu
Having either a cold or the flu is probably the most common illness around. Symptoms concerning a cold or the flu are quite different. Flu symptoms appear suddenly and affect the body all over. Cold symptoms mostly just affect above the neck. Having a low fever and a little bit of the chills means you probably have a cold, but a high fever might mean you have the flu. If you are having general pains throughout the body you are probably experiencing the flu.
Stress
We all know that college is and can be a lot of fun but can also create a lot of stress. Due to extreme changes in ones' life, like adjusting to new friends and surroundings, to an academic overloads and financial demands, college probably creates more stress than anything else. Although stress doesn't seem that serious, it is. Physical symptoms of stress include increased blood pressure and heart rate, tense muscles, irregular eating habit, and sleeping poorly. Emotional reactions can be anywhere from anger, to losing your temper completely. If any of these sound like your case you are probably suffering from too much stress and should seek assistance.
