Student Health Services provides assistance

By Allison Cranford
Special to the Daily Forty Niner

Cal State Long Beach senior business major, Brian McClelland has never been to Student Health Services on campus.

"I have never been there, I never realized that all students could go there," McClelland said.

Like McClelland, many students on campus have not used Health Services, nor do they know the many services available.

However, a growing number of students are discovering the resources available in the center, said Lawrence Harvey, registered nurse and clinical coordinator of nursing services at CSULB.   Health Services is trying to inform students about the many resources available to anyone who is enrolled.

For instance, many students do not realize a portion of their tuition pays for all basic services provided at Health Services, Harvey said. The $35 taken from each student's tuition also helps to pay the salary of the doctors and nurses.

"I thought that I had to pay for appointments at the health center," McClelland said. "I didn't know that it is already paid for through our tuition."

In addition to staff salaries, the tuition pays for many viable services at the center.

"Some of the basic services provided are direct medical care, specialty services, such as dermatology and orthopedics, women and men's health, basic laboratory tests and X-rays," Harvey said.

Although there are small fees for prescriptions and lab work hat needs to be sent outside of the clinic, they are much less than going to an outside facility, Harvey said.

Also, because it is a state organization, the pharmacy only charges a fraction of what an outside provider because it is able to sell medication at cost, Harvey said.

Health Services also provides immunizations for measles, mumps and rubella, which are required for admission to the university. The university also works with the Long Beach Public Health Department to inform students of other vaccinations provided by the city.

"Immunizations are very important, especially to freshmen," Harvey said. "This year any entering student 18 or younger has to have the Hepatitis B series of shots completed."