Newly remodeled health center raises service standards
With the start of the fall semester, Saddleback College is proud to present its newly remodeled and renovated Student Health Center. Over the course of the summer, the Health Center received an extensive makeover that has turned the office into a state-of-the-art facility.
Upon entrance, the new Health Center features vinyl flooring, a new color scheme, and a completely rebuilt front desk that now has two separate windows for checking in and checking out, all of which provide for a clean, holistic atmosphere with improved privacy.
The rear of the Health Center now has spacious hallways, three exam rooms, one of which allows for access of a paramedic gurney, and two rooms for counseling. The entire Health Center is also ADA compliant to allow complete wheelchair accessibility.
Services provided by the new facility include: eye exams, blood work, physicals, and counseling, all with minimal costs for students. In addition, both prescribed and over-the-counter medicines may be obtained via the Health Center. Students of various health science programs, especially the nursing program, are even allowed to complete their community hours there.
There are even a couple new services that have been implemented into the Health Center’s repertoire, one of which is its Drug and Alcohol Prevention program. The Health Center has also begun partnerships with various community programs and organizations such as Orange County 2-1-1 and Birth Choice which seek to assist and direct students in locating resources in areas such as food, shelter, crisis intervention, healthcare, and parenting.
This dramatic change and remodel of the building only took a brief five weeks to complete, and Jeanne Harris-Caldwell, RN, director of the Student Health Center stated that the information and technology department did an, “amazing job getting the computers and phones up and running again”.
Any active enrolled students have access to the numerous services and resources the Health Center has to offer which are available Monday through Thursday from 8 a. m. to 7 p. m., and Friday from 9 a. m. to 3 p. m., but closed every day from 1 p. m. to 2 p. m. All services will be available all five days of the week, unlike before when only certain physicians were available on different days.
Starting in September, Saddleback will also release its own online health magazine through Student Health 101. It will feature an array of information such as diet advice, healthy recipes, and fitness tips that are interactive with students and even allows them to ask a doctor any health-related questions.
In the near future, Harris also intends to include group counseling programs like Narcotics Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous into the Health Center’s roster. She also said that this new renovation marks, “the beginning of a long-range plan,” to help the students, both mentally and physically, that is inspired by her and the staff’s, “driven passion to help others”.