Suppose a Boston University student, after a particularly wild Saturday night which she may or may not remember, needs access to the morning-after pill. Probably the first place she’ll think of is the Planned Parenthood clinic at 1055 Commonwealth Ave., which is part of BU’s campus, but not affiliated with the university. What she may not know is that the morning-after pill is also available on campus through BU’s Student Health Services.
Promoting access to the morning-after pill isn’t the most pressing concern for Student Health Services, nor should it be. But this example points to the larger problem of a lack of information about the services offered by BU’s health care facility, and its failure to adequately address important health issues facing the BU community. With a university as large as BU’s, change is long overdue.
Take, for instance, the recent incidents of Norovirus, which prompted new safety measures at BU dining halls. Student Health Services could have made an effort to inform students about the virus and possible steps to avoid it. But aside from a letter from Dean of Students Kenneth Elmore, students remained largely in the dark.
Student Health Services could also do a far better job of simply making its presence known on campus. Students typically know a little about the facility (like where it is), but are often unaware of how it works — whether they can walk in anytime, whether they need a certain kind of insurance, what kind of health problems can be treated there, and so on.
Such information would be especially valuable to prospective students and their parents. A parent’s chief concern is for his or her child’s safety, and it would be reassuring to know that Little Johnny going off to college on the mean streets of Boston is in good hands at his school’s health facility. Meanwhile, the university could use a better-advertised and more open Student Health Services as yet another strong selling point for attracting would-be students.
Student Health Services boasts of “top-quality health care” on its website, and this may very well be the case. But it’s not enough to simply tell us this — Student Health Services also has to show us. Otherwise, BU students aren’t going to have the kind of health facility they deserve.
