For most students the first day of classes in college is very hectic.
The beginning of this semester was especially hard on students battling the triple-digit temperatures and blistering sun.
These high temperatures are dangerous not only for students, but for athletes and employees on campus as well.
To help the student body help cope with these high temperatures I tried to contact the Student Health Office on campus to get advice on how we can all beat the heat.
To my dismay we do not have a Student Health Office located on the Antelope Valley College campus.
We only have a Student Health Services information wall located in the Student Services Building that has pamphlets on various illnesses and diseases.
Having attended another community college in Los Angeles County, I was absolutely astonished that we did not have health professionals on campus that we could receive services from.
I took my search to the AVC web site where I learned that we have a “Care-A-Van” which is a van that has a nurse practitioner and staff that come to AVC campus every Thursday from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
It is available to all full-time and part-time students enrolled at AVC.
In order to receive services you have to call to make an appointment (listed on AVC website) and you have to provide your AVC ID card, proof of residence, social security card or your medical card and/or family pact card if it applies.
According to the AVC Student Health services page The “Care-A-Van” provides services such as: annual physical exams, pap smears, blood pressure checks, flu shots, TB tests, pregnancy testing, mental health assessments, contraception, vaccines for children, STD testing and treatment, referrals to doctors and specialists and patient programs for prescription medications.
College of the Canyons, Los Angeles Mission College and Pierce College—all community colleges within a close proximity to AVC in Los Angeles County offer on campus health services which are open four days and week and offer the same services and more.
Not only do these other colleges receive the same services that our campus receives from the Care-A-Van but, they also provide a nutritionist, weight management and chronic disease education, family planning, mental health counseling and a self-help center that provides non-prescription medications.
COC, LA Mission and Pierce fund their Student Health Offices with a fee that is paid in each student’s tuition. COC’s fee is $17 a semester and LA Mission and Pierce’s fee is $11 per semester.
Most services are free but some services do require a small fee.
To a part-time student who does not qualify to be on their parent’s health insurance plans or for students who do not receive insurance from their employers it is very beneficial and convenient to have someone available on campus to help them with their health care needs, even if it requires a small fee.
What was most shocking to me is that we have sports teams and classes available to students in which they need to perform physically well in regardless of the weather.
During the extreme heat we experienced during our first week of class not having a licensed health care professional on campus could have proven detrimental to any student on campus.
In other words, in case of an emergency we would have to simply, without any other option, call 911 to have that person transported the nearest hospital.
Nationwide, student athletes have literally dropped dead playing team sports, which have enacted these schools to invest in defibrillators to revive anyone without a pulse or vital signs.
Without a Student Health Office these types of life saving methods are not available to us and could lead to a tragic outcome for any of us on campus.
COC and LA Mission College have defibrillators available, and Pierce has several defibrillators across their campus.
According to the Student Health Office at College of the Canyons, “There are no laws that require community college campuses to provide a Student Health Office or life-saving equipment on campus.”
The only way AVC can obtain a Student Health Office and life-saving equipment like a defibrillator is through our Associated Student Government and through legislation.
Even though it is hard enough for most of us to afford our tuition as it is, I think for just a few more dollars a semester we too can have all of the services that our surrounding college campuses have.
We would not only have a healthier, safer and more prepared campus but we could have the peace of mind that we have a professional medial staff on campus most of the week to do so.
-By Lynette Liberda
