No college nurse, no health center

The Yuba College Student Health Center was a place where students could go if they felt ill. However, since October 2005 the Student Health Center has been nonexistent. Many new students who attend Yuba College had no idea that the school even had a health center

If you go to the end of the registration office-counter, you will see the Community Education office. Very few people ever notice the office, let alone realize that it was the Health Center at one time.

While many who do remember the center think that it has gone for good, this is not the case. According to Miriam Root, the Public Information Specialist on campus, the center is not gone, merely waiting in the wings.

“The public nurse we had working in the center moved on to a job that pays better,” said Root. “We have placed ads at least twice and have had no response.”

Without a nurse, the students are left with little option as far as health resources. There is no place on campus to receive simple health care such as minor cuts or ill students. So what is a student to do? Is there a way to get the center up and running again? And where will it go this time? The answers are simple.

Currently you have no other option other than to carry yourown pain pills, allergy meds and the like on your person. If you need doctor’s attention, you can go to the public health department or local clinic both of which are off campus.

The only way to get the center back in operation is to hire a nurse. Not just any nurse, a licensed RN. Not a simple task, as nurses are in such high demand and understandably, the school cannot afford to pay them an enormous salary like a hospital can.

If and when the Student Health Center becomes operational again, it will go in the Warren Hall building, which is near the East parking lot. “Logically it’s a better place, seeing as the police department is right there,” said Root. “Originally, we had planned on moving it there anyway.”

The Student Health Center is not gone for good, it is just merely un-staffed and the college is having a hard time finding a replacement. Other options would be to just let it go, or put it on the back burner until a candidate comes forward.

With so many other programs and services offered here on campus, the school cannot spend all their efforts on one service. It is important to have a center, as many schools now do, but if all the effort was being put into just that, other programs would feel a rebuttal.

Yuba college administration plans to continue trying to find a nurse and get the Student Health Center up and going again. It’s merely a matter of time and finding the right person.

Then, of course, it would have to be setup and stocked before we could call it a center. So remember, the health center is not gone.