Campus
health center picks policy over people
Safiya
Elkhaldy
I
think I speak for most women when I say
our annual check up with the gynecologist,
ranks right between getting a bikini wax
and watching a baseball playoff game with
your boyfriend, when you know "Will
and Grace" is on.
But
Student Health Services doesn't make that
dreadful day any better. Like Brotman Hall,
and most of our advisors, the health center
is just one more conspiring entity in this
plot to make my life more complicated.
Last
week I went to the health center to carry
out my annual duty. My appointment was for
10:50, and after getting out of a 10:45
class I rushed up campus to make my appointment.
I arrived at 10:55, signed in and waited
patiently in the main waiting room to be
called. One secretary, after watching me
sit there and flip through magazines, stood
up and hollered for the whole room to hear,
"You're
in the wrong waiting room. Go to the one
on the left." I walked to the second
waiting room and explained to the secretary
there that I had a 10:50 appointment and
apologized for being late.
"Oh
I'm sorry, we have a 10 minute policy, so
you going to have to reschedule," she
said with a forced smile."
"I
realize that I'm late, but I was in the
wrong waiting room," I tried to explain.
"That's
our policy. I can't fit you in at this point.
You can go up to the front and reschedule
your appointment.
How
does one human being look another in the
face and shrug their shoulders and say,
"I can't do anything for you."
I
will never know how another human being
can be such a policy brat. I will never
understand how one person can look another
straight in the face and expect him or her
to believe that because they were in the
wrong waiting room, they have to wait an
additional two weeks to see a doctor. Or
as she suggested, "put my name on the
waiting list and take my chances with a
three hour wait."
It's
so comforting that places like the health
center really look out for the health and
safety of their students. It's comforting
to know that I'm an hour and half away from
my own doctor and that if I need medical
attention I have the choice of coming back
in two weeks, or taking my chances with
a three hour wait.
What
that secretary didn't know is that I have
been dealing with serious medical issues.
After getting a CAT scan, my primary doctor
instructed me to get everything checked
out. He told me to see an optometrist; get
X-rays done, and see my gynecologist. That
way we could start to rule out possible
causes.
What
that secretary didn't know, is that I needed
to see if the medicine and painkillers prescribed
would be harmful to take with my birth control
pill.
Sometimes
I feel like I'm fighting a battle against
the world. Stupid me to think that I could
find relief and dependency in my campus
health center. And shame on me for thinking
that they would actually treat me like a
human being.
I
can't count how many times I have patiently
waited in the health center to see a doctor.
My last visit I waited almost two hours
to see a doctor. But I have never complained.
I am now being vocal because it is so disheartening
to be turned away because of some 10 minute
policy that overrides someone's health.
Even
worse is a 10 minute policy enforcer who
can watch a young woman cry and not make
any attempt to aid her.
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