Student Health Center serves the entire campus community, regardless of a student’s financial status.

“Seventy-five percent of our students do not have health insurance and the sad part is that if they have an illness they may stop their education,” said Janet Chang, director of Student Health Services. “We want to make sure that these students who have an unstable home life still have access to health care and still have educational continuity.”

SHS constantly assesses student needs and develops new programs to meet these unmet needs.

“I get involved with assessment,” Chang said. “We try to look at why students do not succeed in school; we look at these reasons why and we try to reflect those reasons into the services that we provide.”

Personal one-on-one counseling is also available.

“Personal counseling with Student Health Services allowed me to overcome or deal with my anxiety and depression and allowed me to come to class every day, face life and be who I am,” said Tina O’Neil, a personal counseling recipient. “Now my life is positive where before it was really negative.”

An additional service of the SHS is smoking cessation.

“I noticed that on campus there were so many faculty and students who smoked. I decided to start this program,” said clinic nurse Janet Reid.

When I first met Jan I wasn’t really sure how I was going to stop smoking or what she could do for me,” said ex-smoker Cindy Black. “I relied on her support, she gave me the strength to quit. If I didn’ t have able to do it, so it was absolutely critical. This program helped save my life.”

What is discussed between the student and SHS stays with SHS.

“I think we develop a special relationship with students,” said Toni Moos, student medical director. “When they come in, it is confidential, you get to do a lot of educating and a lot of counseling, and I feel like I am making a difference.”

“I am privileged to work in a field where my personal philosophy is congruent with my work. This program (Student Health Services) allows what our country believes in,” Chang said, “educational access for everyone.”

The mission statement of Student Health Center is directed toward enhancing the educational process by modifying or removing health-related barriers to learning, promote optimal wellness, enabling individuals to make informed decisions about health-related concerns and empowering clients to be self-directed and well-informed consumers of health care services.

The Student Health Center sees more than 2,500 students per semester and offers a wide variety of free health services:

• Family planning services (a family pact participant)
• Annual exams birth control/family planning counseling
• Birth control methods
• Condoms, pills, etc.
• Pregnancy testing and referrals n Sexually transmitted disease screening
• Hepatitis B vaccine series
• “Morning-after pill” or emergency contraception
• General appointments to see the medical doctor
• Treatment for minor illnesses
• Immunizations, including tuberculin skin test
• Drug/alcohol information and referral n Health counseling
• Medical emergency care referral – 1-888-334-1000
• Low-cost laboratory services
• Referrals to community health agencies · 1-888-334-1000
• Smoking cessation classes
• Free eyeglasses referral for qualifying students
• Personal counseling/psychological services

Student Health Center Location: SC-109

H o u r s :

Mondays and Wednesdays: 8:30 a.m. – Noon and 1 p.m.–3 p.m.
Tuesdays and Thursdays: 8:30 a.m. – noon and 2 p.m.–6 p.m.
Fridays – Closed

*This article is a transcription of the video online at: www.sjcc.edu/SServices/Services/Health/health.html